I Just Want To Travel The World
by BANIX
Summary: I had everything I wanted in my second life. A loving family and a team of wonderful pokemon. I did not ask to get involved with crime syndicates or get caught in government politics. I just want to travel the world. Reincarnated OC. (Rated M just in case, swear words and concepts of death included)
1. Chapter 1- A Whole New World

Sometimes when I looked back I still wonder if it's all just a dream.

It feels surreal you know? Being born into a loving family with loving parents, have an overprotective older brother, being a pokemon trainer and all that jazz.

Oh, did I just mentioned pokemon? Yup, you read correctly, _pokemon_. I have a team of them and they are absolutely _amazing_.

And before you ask, yes, this is my second life. I reincarnated and found myself in the world of pokemon (surprise!). Unbelievable right? Trust me, you aren't the only one to feel that way.

Oh, you are asking me who I am in my previous life and whether you know me? Who and what I am before is not important anymore. What is important is who and what I am now.

My name is Velda Vera. And this is my story.

* * *

I was born screaming and kicking into the Vera family on 31 August in the pokemon year 516. I didn't know it at that time that I was reborn, all I can tell that I was being manhandled and heard muffled voices all around me. All I saw were blurry images scurrying around and someone screaming "It's a girl, it's a girl!".

Naturally, I am fucking confused.

The last thing I remembered was driving to work before a random truck driver decided that ramming into my car seems like a good idea. Being crushed under a heap of metal, bleeding out while waiting for help to arrive is not my definition of fun at all.

Back to the initial point of my story. From what I could make out with my eyes, I am definitely in the hospital. _Good job girl, you survived._ Note to self: remember to throw a party to celebrate my triumphant return to the world of the living.

My internal monologue didn't last long, however, until a giant of a man picked me up and handed me over to an equally gigantic women lying in a bed nearby, drenched in sweat, looking utterly exhausted but practically glowing with happiness.

"She looks like you, Hanna"

The now identified woman, Hanna, laughed while rocking me. _Stop shaking me woman!_ She looked at me into my eyes before turning around to face the man, "Well, Griff, she has your eyes." _Why the hell are they treating me like a goddamn baby? I'm a grown woman dammit!_

It was then the realisation hit me. I couldn't speak. My limbs are small, pudgy, pieces of meat and the only thing I could speak is "Waa~Waa~"

The woman - _Hanna_ , my mind supplied helpfully - took another look at me before smiling, and proceeded to lift up her shirt to expose her breasts and shoving it into my face.

The last thought I had before I was forced to suck on her nipples were _'Crap, I died didn't I?'_

* * *

Griff Vera, owner of one of the largest pokemon breeding farm in the Hoenn region, loved his family. He have a beautiful wife, a wonderful son who is also an awesome older brother to his younger sister, and a most peculiar daughter.

His son, Vance Vera, 18 years old, is a pokemon trainer and one of the best operative that ACE has ever produced. ACE is an army of trainers under the command of the Hoenn league that accepts only the best trainers in the region. They are part of the military might of the Hoenn region and it is their duty to protect and maintain the peace of Hoenn. Their job scope ranges from conducting search and rescue operations due to man-made or natural disasters, herding of wild pokemon away from human settlements to protect both humans and pokemon, to fighting crime syndicates. It is not the safest of professions and Griff does have his worries. But if this is what Vance wanted to pursue as a career, he will give him his full support.

He can understand why Vance chose to be an ACE trainer. After all, he himself used to be one, much to his father's chagrin. It was one of his most fulfilling moments in life, going on the hardest of missions to protect and maintain the peace of the Hoenn region. He got drafted into ACE at the age of 16 after catching the attention of the officials of the pokemon league for his outstanding performance in the 501th Ever Grande conference. He was under the leadership of the Dragon Master Drake during his time in ACE and was one of the best members in Drake's squad.

Until a mission at Fallarbor town went FUBAR, claiming the lives of 4 out of 6 members of his pokemon team.

It was supposed to be a simple patrol mission. He and his partner David were to patrol the Meteor Falls, home to the notorious salamence and to keep all members of the public out of it. It was the salamence mating season and access to Meteor Falls is closed to the public for their safety. There were previous incidents many years ago where part of the town was razed when the locals unknowingly disturbed their nest during this period. He and David were assigned by the league to assist Fallarbor town to warn off the locals and keep out nosy trespassers. Simple enough, right?

The next thing he knew, he and David have to save the asses of 3 idiotic trespassers who had the bright idea to visit and say hi to the hormone-filled salamence population.

David and Griff barely had enough time to send word to the then Hoenn champion and his ACE commander, Drake, and kick those 3 idiots out of Meteor Falls to warn the locals of an impending salamence attack. What was supposed to be an easy patrol mission turned out to a battle royale in the span of a few short minutes.

His ninjask was the first to fall, getting caught by a stray flamethrower. His ludiculo was next, fighting valiantly to prevent a pack of shelgons from passing through him. He was successful in his endeavour until a salamence decided that enough is enough, and proceeded to join in the fray, mauling ludiculo to death.

He didn't know how his zangoose and ursaring fell in battle, they were too far away from each other during the battle trying to keep the salamence population at bay. He only knew of their demise when he woke up in Ever Grande hospital much later.

He was lucky that Drake managed to reach him in time to pull him out of that hell-hole when he did. David didn't make it out alive.

The loss of the majority of his team and a permanent injury to his back meant that his career as an ACE operative had come to an end when he was 20 years old. He felt a mixture of bitterness, sadness, pain, rage and guilt. It feels like his heart got tossed into the blender, put back together again, and then tossed into the blender again. He did not regret doing what he did as he knew full well that Fallarbor could have been decimated if it wasn't for the sacrifice of his fellow comrades to buy time for Drake and the rest of the ACE team to arrive and drive the wild salamence population back to Meteor Falls. But he cannot help but think that the whole fiasco could have been prevented if the salamence population wasn't disturbed by those 3 idiotic trespassers in the first place. In his opinion, they deserved to get mauled to death back at Meteor Falls by the horde of angry salamence. Investigations after the incident revealed that these people were trying to poach the salamence's eggs, which can be sold at high value. They knew full well what they were getting into. Their own stupidity nearly got his entire team killed and cost David his life.

And when he got Drake's permission to personally escort those 3 idiots to Hoenn's prison in Dewford, he took great vindictive pleasure in doing so, not that he will admit it to anyone else.

After he resigned from ACE, he went back to his hometown, Petalburg city, settled down and proceeded to took over his family's pokemon breeding business from his father. It was there where he met the love of his life, Hanna Springfield, a nurse who works at Petalburg's pokemon center. They fell in love, got married to each other and they had their first child, Vance, 3 years later.

Life became perfect when Velda came into their lives 7 years after Vance was born.

Velda is a carbon copy of Hanna. She has Hanna's blond and wavy hair, her green eyes and her slim, petite figure. Totally unlike Vance, who inherited his own brown messy hair and tall, bulky stature. Vance did inherit his mother's green eyes though.

His daughter, Velda Vera, can be described as peculiar, but she is not by any means weird. She is... _unique,_ for a lack of a better word. Even now, when he is sitting on the porch of his house with Fang, his mightyena and starter, watching his now 11 years old daughter trying to teach his other surviving member of his team, tropius, how to read by writing words on the ground with a stick (don't ask why, he has long since given up on trying to understand how his daughter's mind work), he cannot help but find his daughter too mature for her age. She had always been too understanding (he never seen her throw a tantrum even once), seems to know much more than what is let on (how did she even understand sexual innuendos at 8 years old?), and sometimes when he saw her gazing out of the window, just for that moment, his daughter's gaze felt so _tired_. And then she would notice him staring at her and the tired look disappear as fast as it appeared, and the bubbly, talkative girl that he is familiar with would come back to his side and begin to talk about what she had done for the day.

Griff had no idea why Velda had that kind of gaze. That sort of gaze is something he only saw in old people. It is that sort of gaze his father had when looking out of his bedroom window shortly before he passed away, a few months before Velda was born. Considering she only turned 11 a few days ago, it is kind of scary she had that kind of look so soon in life. But she is his daughter, and he would love her with every fiber of his being.

On a side note, Velda did managed to get tropius to at least be able to recognise and read its own name. Griff himself is still undecided whether he should be impressed at his daughter's perseverance (she had been trying to teach tropius to read its own name for the last 6 months), or to look at his long time comrade in awe that he actually managed to _read_ (even though it's only a single word, but a word nonetheless).

Velda rarely cry. In fact, he could count on one hand the times he saw her cry since her birth. When she was 3 months old, she cried in shock when she saw Vance's starter, a gastly named Macky, making funny faces at her. When she was 3 years old, she cried in sorrow when she found out that her grandfather's linoone passed away in its burrow under the great oak tree in their backyard (poor old Whiskers lived a long life, may Arceus bless his weary soul). When she was 9 years old, she cried in worry when she found Vance lying in a hospital bed after a rough encounter with a herd of slakings on one of his ACE missions. Other than that, he really cannot remember other instances where he saw his baby girl cry.

Velda is not only mature, she is also smart. It did not take her long before she managed to crawl, speak her first words and finally walk around the house on her own two legs. She started reading at 3 years of age where other kids start at 4 or 5 years of age. By 5 years old, it became a daily morning routine for both father and daughter to read the newspaper together after breakfast, and they would discuss their opinions on current affairs. By the time she was 8 years old, she was browsing through Professor Samuel Oak's thesis on _Pokemon and their influence on shaping human civilisations_ for entertainment purposes.

Griff is pretty sure that he spent most of his time when he was 8 years old rolling and playing in the mud.

If there is one thing Griff wished for his daughter, it would be for her to be healthy. Unfortunately, Velda's body has a weak immunity system that cause her to fall sick frequently ever since she was 5 years old. She would have frequent onsets of fever, cold, and cough, sometimes a combination of all three. Every doctor they met all said that there is no cure as there is no sickness to begin with. Velda is just unlucky to be saddled with a weak immunity system. Half of Velda's life when she was between 5 to 8 years old was spent resting on her bed to recover from whatever sickness that ails her. And every single time he had to carry her to bed because she is too tired to do so, she would put on a smile on her face and assure him that she is alright despite the pain and fatigue she felt on a near daily basis. Everyone in the family knew better than that of course, no one in their right mind would enjoy being a prisoner on their own bed for 6 months out of an entire year. Velda has always been too mature, always trying to look out for them despite the fact that she needs the most help herself.

Thankfully, Velda did get healthier by the time her 9th birthday came around and she spent every possible moment outside in their family's breeding farm located outside, at the back of their house to interact with the pokemon there. Velda is a natural with pokemon and she can approach and befriend any pokemon on their family's farm in a matter of minutes. Although he personally feels that having a protective mightyena hovering around her might have helped things a little.

Her love and familiarity with pokemon is what prompted both him and his wife to get their daughter her very first pokemon companion on her 9th birthday. To say that Velda was ecstatic would be an understatement when she received her first pokemon, a ponyta (Velda named him Flamel the next day), from them. He never saw his daughter so happy before and at that moment, Griff felt that he was the happiest man alive as well.

Griff is brought out of his thoughts when his wife's gardevoir, Holly, sent a telepathic message to him that his wife had finished preparing dinner. Seeing Velda walking up to him with Flamel at her side, he surmised that she must have gotten the message too.

"Did tropius learn any new words today?"

"Been trying to teach him how to read my name, not much progress though." Velda replied with a shrug of her shoulders, walking in step with him on his right. She turned to face him with a quizzical look on her face, "Do you think I have better luck with teaching Fang instead?"

He can't help but laugh at his daughter's question, "Sorry to disappoint you, but Fang would sooner fight against Arceus itself before learning how to read." He heard a snort of confirmation from his starter on his left. "Come on now, let's not keep your mother waiting much longer."

"Admit it, you just can't wait to eat mum's cooking. I know for a fact that she's cooking your favourite soup today." Velda gave him her best deadpanned look. "You are lucky that Vance isn't here to compete with you for that bowl of soup. He loves it just as much as you do. I swear mum have you both completely whipped." She threw her hands in the air in an exasperated manner for emphasis, "Whipped by a bowl of soup."

Griff can't keep the grin out of his face. Tomorrow, Velda would be embarking on her own pokemon journey like many other children her age. He can't help but worry for her like how he did for Vance when he first started his journey, and Vance did not have a messed up immunity system unlike Velda. Velda had argued that her health has been getting much better, only falling sick once every few months at the most.

Oh well, he will worry later. Right now, he have a bowl of his favourite soup to look forward to for dinner.

* * *

Dinner at home was the favourite part of the day for me. It was the time of the day where everyone in the family will put down whatever things they had on hand and come together to enjoy a meal. Too bad Vance had to return to Ever Grande yesterday for ACE duties, things were always more fun with him around. He acts like a happy-go-lucky idiot most of the time but is able to switch his demeanor to cold and calculating at the drop of a hat. Some of our neighbours find that aspect of him unnerving. Personally, I find this ability of his to be pretty cool. Vance is smart and charismatic. When he talks, people listen. There was no way he finished 3rd place in the 520th Ever Grande conference and subsequently rose to be the 2nd in command of his ACE squad, under the leadership of Wallace, the current Hoenn champion, by being an idiot. I'm surprised he even turned up to celebrate my birthday with me at all, since he is a crucial member of the ACE team now. He never said it, but I'm pretty sure he did more than just pulled a few strings to get the time off to celebrate my birthday with me and gave me the newest model of the xtransceiver for my birthday present.

Things decelerated to a slow lull after dinner, Dad and I helped Mum to wash the dishes as per normal. We would all talk about our day, or about current affairs, the farm, or pokemon. We would talk about almost anything under the sun. We will then lounge about in the living room in a comfortable silence. Dad would watch TV, Mum would knit and I would read whatever books I could get my hands on. We will all retire to our rooms by 10 in the evening and wake up before 8 the next day. Another typical day in the Vera household.

Lying on my bed after changing into my sleepwear. I can't help but look back on the 11 years of my second life thus far. I would be embarking on the start of my pokemon journey tomorrow. A journey that many pokemon fans in my previous life would die to go for. I have been waiting for this for years now, ever since I found out that I have landed myself in the world of pokemon when I was 3 months old. Admittedly, I was terrified when I saw pokemon for the very first time in my second life. In my defense, it was _Vance_ who first introduced me to pokemon. He can be quite a dork at times. Like I said, I was a 3 months old baby who had nothing better to do but stare at the ceiling from my cot at that point in time. The only living creatures that I saw up till that point in time were my new parents. Most of my time for the first 3 months of my time was spent sleeping. Vance, on the other hand, was an excitable 7 year old boy who rarely had a chance to see me as my parents feared he would drop me on my head or do something stupid the moment he got his hands on me. Laugh it up all you want, but if you ever see how 7 years old Vance behaved and carried himself, you will find that the fears of my parents in my second life is well-founded and justified.

Anyway, back to the point of discussion, how I first met pokemon in this world.

Vance was standing by my cot trying to get me to play with him in the rare moment that I was awake and he was annoying the hell out of me by making those stupid cooing noises. I ignored him of course. I may be a baby in body but I had the mind of an adult. To top it all up, I was still having an internal identity crisis by being thrown suddenly and violently into an unknown world living my second life. I did not give Vance any attention at all.

So Vance did the only he can think of to get my attention. He faced the ceiling and made some sort of weird clicking noises with his mouth. The next thing I knew, a mass of purple gases with a _face_ appeared out of nowhere and was staring at me just a few inches away from _my_ face.

I screamed.

The usually quiet household suddenly sprang to life. Holly teleported by my cot humming with psychic energy, my parents burst through the door of my room with Fang at their side, and Fang was snarling menacingly, looking for any signs of threat. I could see tropius peering through the window of my room with a watchful eye (not that I know who or what it was at that time). But to me, someone who did not know that I was reborn into the world of pokemon, all of these creatures are unknowns to me and looked really fucking scary.

I screamed even louder.

Hence, ten minutes later, after much screaming on my side, my new Mum was cradling and rocking me in her arms trying to comfort me. My new Dad was giving Vance the biggest lashing of his life and Vance looked suitably chastised. I was still hysterical as that green and white humanoid thing (Mum's gardevoir, Holly) was still hovering a short distance away from me and that mass of purple gases with the scariest looking eyes (Vance's gastly, Macky) was still in my line of sight in the corner of my room. I would have continued screaming until I heard my Mum muttering something about "why did Vance think that a gastly would be a perfect first pokemon to introduce to a 3 month old" that made me stop.

Pokemon. My new Mum mentioned _pokemon._

I shifted myself in my mother's arms so that I could look at the green and white humanoid thing better. It was still hovering by my mother's side and seemed intrigued by my abrupt change in behaviour. I took a good long look at it before I realised I was looking at a _gardevoir_. I then shifted myself again and peered downwards to see an absolutely huge canine looking up at me by my mother's feet. Its head was cocked to a side staring at me with its mouth half open, tongue dipping out from its mouth. It had sleek black and gray fur and I recognised the majestic looking canine as a _mightyena_.

Even when my Mum finally noticed my attention was on Fang and bent down to let me see him better, even when Fang came over and gave me a friendly lick on the side of my face to cheer me up, my mind was still reeling in from the sudden revelation that _holy shit I'm in the world of pokemon._

My toddler days got a lot more interesting after that. I would spend every waking moment trying to get Fang closer to me so that I can observe him better. And by the time I can crawl and walk, I would make frequent escapades from the confinements of my room into other parts of my new home trying to see if I can find any other pokemon lying around in our house. I would try to groom Fang's fur (much to his delight), have staring contests with Holly (much to her amusement), and try to sneak out through the back door trying to access the family's farm to find more pokemon to play with (I found out much later that the watchful eye that was constantly peering through my bedroom window belongs to my Dad's tropius) much to my Mum's exasperation.

There is suddenly a whole new world to discover.

Growing up, I had to learn many things regarding pokemon. Things that were not found, taught, or explicitly said in games or in the anime when living side by side with the creatures known as pokemon. I learnt about the history of pokemon and the pokemon league. I learnt about the culture and way of life in this new world. I learnt many things. Things that people of this new world found to be perfectly normal and acceptable. Things that people from my previous world would not think of unless they experienced life in this new world themselves.

The first thing I learnt is my name.

Yeah, _duh_ , I know. But in my case, there is power in my name.

My name in this life is Velda Vera. I am the second and youngest child of the Vera household, my parents' only daughter. My brother, Vance, is their only son and is 7 years older than me. Our family made our home at the edge of Petalburg city in the Hoenn region, and according to my father, Griff Vera, the Vera family has been been living here for many generations. Our family runs one of the largest pokemon breeding farms in the Hoenn region and our family practically lived in the farm. This business was passed down to my father from his father, who inherited the business from his father, who took over the business from his father... yeah you get the gist of it. We are the oldest and most ancient family in Petalburg city and possibly in the entire Hoenn region, and some of the Petalburg folks actually treated us as some sort of noble. In a sense, Vance and I are the near equivalent of a prince or princess in the pokemon community if a royalty system does exist. Our farm is huge, and by huge I mean Professor Oak's Corral in the anime kind of huge and even larger. The back door of our house leads to the our family farm and when I stand there, I couldn't even see the end of the fence that surrounds our farm.

Why did I say that there is power in my name? The power in my name comes from the Vera family name, in case you haven't realised. To explain this, I first have to bring you through a crash course on the history of humans and pokemon. In the world of pokemon, we humans revolve around pokemon and pokemon revolve around us. For humans, having pokemon on our side is a symbol and statement of our strength. For pokemon, staying with humans often correlates to having better shelter and food, and a better chance than their counterparts in the wild to get stronger. Statistics over the years have shown that pokemon under the care of humans tend to have a much longer life expectancy and a much higher chance to evolve and grow stronger. Most pokemon have the innate desire to evolve and grow stronger. Similar to how animals in my previous world interact with each other, pokemon have a food chain of their own and evolution is the best way for them to guarantee their own survival. Hence, they constantly seek out battle with other wild pokemon to gain experience and strength, trying to find their potential, drawing in the power within them to induce the process of evolution in their quest to survive. However, most of the wild pokemon do not have the necessary smarts to draw out their full potential that lays dormant within them. The few that managed to do so often create their own colonies, nests, herds or packs. Whatever you want to describe a group of pokemon. These groups can be dangerous or beneficial to human settlements, depending on how the leader of these groups react to the presence of humans.

What humans lack in physical strength, they made up for it in smarts. Humans always have ingenious ways to train pokemon to draw out their potential. It is unknown when humans of this world first interacted with pokemon, but it has been our way of life even before since the Hoenn League was first founded more than 500 years ago. In ancient times, having stronger and more pokemon than your enemy clans or tribes means a better chance for a successful conquest. Humans and pokemon have fought in bloody wars for reasons no other than greed, fame and power. It wasn't pretty, and it was a nasty shock and a violent wake-up call to me that this isn't the pokemon I knew from the games and anime that was censored to be children friendly. The world of pokemon that I am now currently living in is full of creatures that have the capacity to be your best friend, or a terrifying killing machine.

In any case, the bloody history of humans and pokemon first came to a stop 516 years before I was born. Two years after the establishment of the Indigo League, the first Hoenn Champion, Shozo Oshin, took a leaf out of the newly established Indigo League and conquered the various towns and cities that would later make up the Hoenn region, founded the Hoenn League as the governing body, and set up the annual Ever Grande Conference as we know today. Through sheer might and strength, he ruled the Hoenn region with a fair but strict hand. Under his rule, Hoenn flourished. The main problem back then was that the northern half of Hoenn spoke the language in which what people in my previous world know as English. The people from the Southern half of Hoenn spoke the language which what people in my previous world refer to as Japanese. The first thing Champion Shozo did in his reign as the Champion was to set English (known as the common tongue in the pokemon world, Japanese was known as the oriental tongue) as the main written and spoken language in the Hoenn region, which is also the main written and spoken language in the Kanto and Johto region. He set up the headquarters of the Hoenn league in Ever Grande city, established the Champion and Elite Four system like what the Indigo League did, and ally itself with the Indigo League. After that, he proceeded to standardise all forms of language, currency, laws and regulations, calendars along with many other things together with the Indigo League to make life in Hoenn better than the battlefield it once was. Any and all oppositions to his ideals were crushed with extreme prejudice in the name of peace. Some years later, many other regions followed the example of the Indigo and Hoenn League. It gave birth to the Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and Alola regions and they all adopted the same calendar system first set by the Indigo League, together with their main language, currency, and most of their laws and regulations regarding human-pokemon interactions. Together, these 7 newly established regions make up the Pokemon World League, or PWL in short. The region of Orre is a bit of a unique case as it remains unconquered and untamed. It is the wildest region in the world, a place where criminal organisations and syndicates ran amok. But that is a topic for discussion for another day.

Over time, things were hammered out and stabilised, and humans lived in relative peace. Relative being the keyword here. The pokemon world is not free of conflict, but neither is it filled with strife. No matter the time and age, there will always be people and organisations who abuse pokemon for their own nefarious means. Thankfully nothing on the scale of a full-blown war has ever happened ever since the Hoenn League was founded. Pokemon Leagues around the world have a no tolerance policy when anyone threatens the peace and stability their forefathers have so painstakingly built over the years.

Due to the shared bloody history between humans and pokemons, humans in this world have a very healthy respect and fear of pokemon. Governments all over the world were very careful when it comes to developing and clearing lands for human establishment. There are very stringent laws in place when it comes to this sort of things. The idea is that if we got too overzealous in developing human settlements and encroach too much on the natural habitat of wild pokemon, it would drive them to attack human settlements in search of food and shelter which can potentially destroy the delicate balance between humans and pokemons. The most famous case in argument of this theory was the Mahogany Massacre that happened around 200 years ago in Mahogany Town. The locals in Mahogany Town were mainly fishermen. There was a serious case of over-fishing at that point in time and caused a scarcity of food supply for the wild gyarados that resides in the Lake of Rage. One thing led to another and it ended up with the alpha of the local gyarados population commanding a large horde of gyarados and launched a siege on Mahogany Town. The rampage lasted for 3 days and by the end of it, the Indigo League is short of a Mahogany gym leader and a member of their Elite Four, together with half of Mahogany Town.

To get around this issue, humans have been extremely creative in their usage of land. Hoenn has the smallest land mass compared to the other regions and the highest population density. Given our population statistics, I still find it extremely baffling that we haven't been nuked yet by any wild pokemon for incidents similar to the Mahogany Massacre. You can see the creativity in our land usage in our everyday lives. Citizens of Fortree city carve their homes into the big trees that is unique to their cities. Scientists at Mauville city designed and created New Mauville, an underground city even larger than Mauville itself where humans and the local electric pokemons co-exist in harmony. Government leaders from my previous world can really learn a thing or two from the pokemon league. Or maybe they need pokemon in their lives to nuke them before they actually give a damn and try to save the environment. Maybe both.

With pokemon being such an integral part of our lives, it can be said that whoever is able to command and control the way pokemon interacts with humans commands the military might of their nation. Remember when I said that my family has been in the pokemon breeding business for generations? We literally, buy, raise, breed and sell pokemon to trainers and the Hoenn League every single day. The only other pokemon breeding farm that have a chance to match our influence in the industry belongs to the Wildvolt family which is situated in Mauville city. The very same daycare center that hardcore Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald fans are familiar with. Our family may be small in number, but our influence permeates every single city in the Hoenn region.

The other important thing I learnt, and probably a very morbid question that many hardcore pokemon fans are curious about, is the food problem. Namely, do humans in the pokemon world eat pokemon? Are there any other "normal" animals like chicken, cattle, and fish in the world of pokemon? To answer the question, _yes_ , there are animals like chicken, cattle, and fish in the vast world of pokemon. I was so relieved when I found out that the meat that I consumed in my meals did not come from pokemon itself. There were historical records of humans eating pokemon, although such practices are heavily frowned upon and subsequently outlawed. Wild pokemon tend to leave humans alone and prefer other pokemon and animals as their source of food. They do attack humans when humans come to close to their territory but even then they rarely consume humans as food.

Even though there are animals in the pokemon world, the variety of animals in the pokemon world however, is basically limited to poultry, cattle and seafood (ie fish and a small assortment of crustaceans and shellfish). You would not, for example, see a wild tiger or lion prancing around in the wilderness of the jungle as they do not exist. Pokemon, on the other hand, do consume other pokemon in their natural habitat and humans do not interfere with their food chain unless the pokemon in question is raised in the captivity and care of humans. To solve the food problem, pokemon food was invented around 800 years ago and currently assumes the form of small, round tablets that looked a lot like the pokemon food we often see in the pokemon anime. Pokemon food was created from the variety of animals available in the pokemon world, and they are generally better tasting, comes in a multitude of different flavours, and provides pokemon with the necessary nutrients they need to carry on with their everyday lives.

Another interesting to note is the significance of a starter pokemon in the Hoenn region. In the Hoenn region, whenever a person receives his or her first pokemon, it is tradition to give it a nickname. I never met my grandfather as he passed away shortly before I was born, but I met his starter, a linoone, which he named Whiskers. Whiskers was very patient with me and never turned me away from his burrow where he made his home under the great oak tree in our backyard. Whiskers passed away when I was 3 years old though, and I was overcome with grief as it was my first encounter with a pokemon's death. Similarly, Dad named his mightyena Fang, Mum named her gardevoir Holly, and Vance named his gastly Macky (a horrible name in my opinion). I named my ponyta Flamel when I received him as my starter on my 9th birthday. From here onwards, the naming habits of trainers diverge. Trainers like my Dad and Vance will only name their starter, and subsequent pokemons that they captured or received will not receive a nickname. It is a tradition from the warring-states era to emphasise the significance of a starter to its trainer and to remind trainers that their starter pokemon is the reason why they managed to make it so far into their journey as a pokemon trainer. This line of thinking is the most prevalent among Hoenn trainers. Another group of trainers, which I will likely be a part of in the future, named every single pokemon they ever captured or received to show the importance of the pokemon to the team. There is a third group of trainers who do not give their pokemons a nickname at all, but this group of trainers belongs to the minority.

The next myth to debunk: How many pokemon can a trainer carry on himself/herself at any given time?

The answer to that question in theory would be technically unlimited, or to be more exact, as many as you can carry. However, in practice, there is a practical limit to the number of pokemon a trainer can possess. This is because the amount of attention a trainer can give to his pokemon is divided among the number of pokemon he or she possess. Pokemon who receives little to no attention from its trainer tend to go rogue, and the outcomes of such incidents are not pretty. Amateur trainers tend to make this mistake with the misconception that "more is better". While it may hold true to a certain extent at the beginning of their journey, at their later stage in training, quality usually beats quantity. An average trainer employed by the league owns about 6 to 18 pokemon, with a minimum of 6 pokemon as required by the league. In trainer and league registered battles, a maximum of 6 pokemon may be used in any one battle, though the trainers can agree beforehand the maximum number of pokemon both sides are allowed to use as long as the number does not exceed 6. Furthermore, the more pokemon a trainer owns, the more time he has to spend in raising them to reach a certain level of skill compared to a trainer that possess a lesser number of pokemon. There are unique conditions where the concept of "more is better" is a better tailored concept to trainers. Usually, these trainers work in high risk environments, where the death toll of both pokemon and their trainers alike is high, like ACE, for example, the group where my brother is now a part of and my Dad used to work in. I knew Dad used to be part of the ACE team, under the leadership of the then Hoenn Champion and now Elite Four member Drake. He had 6 members on his team and he never went into details on how he lost the other 4 members of his team. All I knew was that it involved a horde of salamence at Meteor Falls, 3 trespassing idiots, and preventing Fallarbor town from experiencing a total annihilation. I could tell he wasn't comfortable with discussing the incident and I didn't probe any further after that.

The other alternative approach to prevent the high death toll in the ACE team, which I learnt from Vance, is to provide better training for both pokemon and trainers. This is the approach that I knew Vance is currently taking. Basically, the idea is that you trained your pokemon so damn well that you need something short of a legendary pokemon to put them down for good. When Vance entered the ACE team 5 years ago he has 8 pokemon on his team, he hasn't lost a single member of his team yet.

On the topic of legendary pokemon, they actually do exist, although their sightings are far and few in numbers, and there are some that hasn't been spotted even before the existence of the PWL. We only know of their existence through word of mouth or written historical records. In this world, when people coined a pokemon with the title of legendary, they literally mean legend-fucking-dary. The power and might of a legendary is not like those you experienced in a game. You cannot own a legendary, or at least, no living mortal have managed that feat yet. Each of the legendaries have the individual power to change and shape the world. The only difference is the extent that they are able to exact their influence on the world. Even a "lesser" legendary like Articuno can freeze an entire island that remains frozen hundreds of years later (yes, I am looking at Seafoam Islands). A more recent event regarding legendary pokemon occurred over 70 years ago. One of the previous Indigo League Champion managed to successfully locate and challenged Moltres. Long story short, he got his ass handed to him in less than 15 minutes and luckily, he and his pokemon was left alive and intact with nothing more than a bruised ego. Moltres was also known as the guardian of the Indigo League. Rumor has it that the first Indigo League Champion conquered the Kanto and Johto region and set up the first Indigo League with the help of Moltres. How he managed to command such a freakishly strong power I would never know and I have no wish to find out. It is said that a remnant of the flame of Moltres is being preserved in the headquarters of the Indigo league on Indigo Plateau. It was a sign of friendship between Moltres and humans, a promise from Moltres to help humans in their time of need.

In summary, the moral of the story is: Step one, legendary pokemon are really fucking strong, stay the fuck away from them. Step two, when in doubt, refer to step one.

The history of humans and pokemons have really come a long way. In a sense, it is even richer than the history of mankind from my previous world, and I would be a part of that history tomorrow when I embark on my pokemon journey. Dad and Mum had also hinted that they will be give me another pokemon tomorrow from the family's farm to aid me on my journey, but planned to keep it a secret for the big reveal tomorrow. I am excited. But for now, I need to sleep so that I can wake up early tomorrow to start my journey. Starting tomorrow, it would be me, Flamel, and a new friend against the world.

* * *

 **AN: This is my first attempt at a fanfiction, and I have no idea on how far I will go. I had this idea after reading many pokemon fanfictions with original ocs or a more in depth discussion of the pokemon world in general. I would recommend Sacrifice and Subjugation, Challenger, Traveler, The Journey of the Guardian, and Legend for anyone with the same taste as me in pokemon fanfiction.**

 **On a side note, I stopped playing the pokemon franchise after Pokemon Platinum. So I am unfamiliar with the pokemon and the regions that come after that although I do try and keep track of the updates from time to time. In this fic, pokemon are not confined to their respective regions although there are regions that they are native to. I mean if pokemon are as smart as they are made up to be they would have the sense to migrate right? If there are any discrepancies, simply treat it as an AU unless they are really too huge to be ignored. In that case, kindly PM me.**

 **Last but not least, I hoped you enjoyed my very first chapter and the very first fanfic I have ever written. I do not know if I will ever complete this due to school and life in general, but I would like to at least try.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, aspiring pokemon trainer, reincarnated soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Unknown, to be given by Griff and Hanna Vera**

 **Vance Vera, Age: 18, Male, ACE trainer and second-in-command to his ACE squad, older brother to Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gengar (Macky), male**

 **Confirmed to have 7 other more pokemons, unknown**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 41, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **4) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **5) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **6) Ursaring (deceased)**

 **Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Age: 41, Female, Formerly a pokemon nurse, Currently runs the Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm with her husband, Wife to Griff Vera and mother to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gardevoir (Holly), female**

 **Other notable mentions:**

 **Velda's grandfather, name unknown**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Linoone (Whiskers, deceased)**


	2. Chapter 2- The First Step

A mudkip. My parents got me a _mudkip._

No, you guys do not understand the significance of owning a mudkip in Hoenn. It's not so simple as getting it as a starting pokemon from your regional pokemon professor.

In the pokemon world, there will be three different species of pokemon in every region (not too sure about Orre, there is too little information of Orre available to the public) who will be collectively known as the "Regional Starters". These species of pokemon and their respective evolutionary line will have the overgrow, torrent, or blaze ability. Their typing will always be either Grass, Water or Fire typing and they will experience 2 more stages of evolution before reaching their final evolutionary form.

In the Hoenn region, Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic are our regional starters.

So now you are probably thinking, 'What's so special about them? You can just get them from your regional pokemon professor right?'

To answer your question, Yes and No. Yes, because you _can_ get them from your regional pokemon professor. No, because not just anyone can get their hands on them as a starter. Regional starters are _rare_ , with most of them on the "endangered species list". Furthermore, many of the regional starters are only a step down from the pseudo-legendary pokemons in terms of raw power. In the training community, the power ranking of pokemon, in a very crude manner, is legendary pokemon, pseudo-legendary, regional starters, followed by other pokemons. The Kanto regional starters, for example, is an absolute nightmare to go against as an opponent. The rarity and strength of regional starters make them perfect gifts to be given out in pokemon tournaments and competitions. The Indigo Plateau Conference gives out regional starters as prizes to the top 3 competitors in addition to prize money every single year.

In Hoenn, the estimated number of swarmperts that is raised in human captivity, including those raised by trainers and breeders, is only about 200. The same goes for the blaziken population, although the number of sceptiles is slightly higher at about 300 raised in human captivity. Experts have explained that this is because sceptiles thrive in the tropical climate and lush vegetation of the Hoenn region. The number of the wild population of these regional starters is even lower, and they often live far away from human settlements. Most civilians and trainers will not even have the chance to see a wild regional starter in their entire lives. That is how rare they are. Hence, any regional starter in the possession of humans is often zealously guarded.

I know for a fact that my family's farm have 8 swarmperts, 6 sceptiles and 4 blazikens and my parents haven't even let me have a look at them once.

Given how rare regional starters are, these pokemons are usually only found in pokemon breeding farms under heavy protection. My family's pokemon farm for example, actually hire experienced trainers to patrol its perimeters round the clock. In addition, my parents (My Dad, mostly) have trained a large pack of canine pokemons that include mightyenas, houndooms, and arcanines that serve as literal guards to the farm, under the command of Fang. My Dad's tropius commands the flock of swellows and a few skarmorys for aerial defence and my Mum's gardevoir, Holly, is the leader of a group of psychic pokemon (which I never caught a glimpse once) that monitor the farm and alerts my parents of any trespassers. These pokemons were trained under my Dad's guidance and it would take an army to successfully breach the defenses of my family's farm. If all else fails, the Petalburg gym is actually duty bound to help defend our breeding farm from any attacks, a perk that is given to our family's farm for all the contributions our family has given to the Hoenn League for generations.

There were 5 break-in attempts in the 11 years of my life here and every single thief were lucky to be left alive when my parents' pokemon were done with them. The Petalburg gym didn't even have to get involved.

My family's farm is one of the few league-approved regional starters breeding farm in the world, and the only farm in Hoenn with the capability to supply its regional starters. Every year, our farm will supply our regional pokemon professor, Professor Birch with 6 regional starters, 2 of each type. Any other extra regional starters we have on hand would usually be sold to the league, assuming that we would like to part with it. There are strict regulations we have to adhere to regarding the starters that we provide to Professor Birch. One of these regulations states that starters cannot know any egg moves that are deemed as "advanced". The treeckos we supplied to Professor Birch, for example, is not allowed to know the move Dragon Breath, as Dragon Breath is considered an advanced egg move. It would be too dangerous to allow a novice trainer on the first day of their pokemon journey to handle a treecko that knows Dragon Breath.

The number of new trainers every year ranges from 100 to 200 people per year. Most of them would want to try their luck to obtain one of the six regional starters. To do so in Hoenn, one has to apply and sit for numerous aptitude and knowledge tests. The top six applicants with the best results will have the chance to visit Professor Birch in Littleroot Town and receive a regional starter. The Hoenn League will also sponsor these trainers to go on their pokemon journey. These pokemon trainers are often referred to as "sponsored trainers" or "sponsored" in short. The sponsored trainers do have a contract to fulfill upon agreeing to receive a regional starter and receive the aid provided by the Hoenn League. Firstly, they have to complete the Hoenn gym circuit and compete in the Ever Grande Conference within 2 years. The Ever Grande Conference is held once every year at the Ever Grande city and is the largest pokemon battling tournament in Hoenn. Only trainers with all 8 Hoenn gym badges are allowed to compete in the Ever Grande Conference. It starts from the 1st of August and ends on the 31st of August, which coincides with my birthday. The entire tournament is broadcast live on TV and people from all around the world would buy tickets to watch the tournament. I have only been to Ever Grande once, when I went there with my parents to spectate the 520th Ever Grande Conference when Vance was competing. The top 3 competitors will receive another rare pokemon in addition to prize money and the newest state-of-the-art trainer equipment. Sadly, the Hoenn regional starters have a very low birth rate even by regional starter standards, and the Hoenn League does not always have regional starters to give out every year. Vance did receive another pokemon when he ended up in the 3rd place in the 520th Ever Grande Conference. He got himself an elekid with an advanced egg move, Dynamic Punch, together with an electirizer. Electirizer is an extremely rare tool to help the elekid species reach the final form of their evolutionary line, electivire.

When the Ever Grande Conference was first started, Hoenn was still recovering from the effects of war. Tensions between cities were still high and there is a possible outbreak of another war. Hence, Champion Shozo introduced the Ever Grande Conference as a substitute for war so that trainers can compete against each other in a safe and controlled environment, and to reduce the tension between the different cities. Funnily enough, the conference first started off as a battle royale and trainers from the same city often grouped up with each other against trainers from other cities. The fight will continue until there is only a single trainer left. There were also no requirements to enter as long as you have a minimum of 6 pokemon on your team. Over the years, the conference evolved into the tournament style that we are now familiar with. When the human and trainer population started to rebound from the effects of war, there are too many trainers that wanted to compete in the regional tournament hosted in their own respective regions. In response, the PWL created the gym circuit system. Every region would have 8 pokemon gyms with a gym leader for each gym. The position of gym leader can be co-shared among 2 or 3 people. Trainers will have to first get all 8 badges from their regional gyms, a symbol of victory or recognition from the gym leaders, before they earn the right to compete in their regional tournament. Gym leaders, together with their regional Pokemon Champion and Elite Four, collectively form a group known as the "Thirteen Pillars" of their own region. Each of the pillars are a symbol of their region's military strength, and they have a large influence in their decisions that involve both trainers and pokemon. The power of the Champion and Elite Four is nothing to scoff at. A single pokemon of their main team has the power of equivalent to a small squad of Elite trainers. The only exception to the gym circuit system is the Alola region, who insist on having their own system in allowing their trainers to earn their right to compete in their regional league due to their tradition. This exception has also been recognised by the PWL.

The winner of the annual Pokemon Regional Tournament in each region has the right to choose to take on their region's Elite Four and Regional Pokemon Champion. They also have the option to refuse, and it is an option that many trainers opted for. If they opt to challenge the Elite Four and their Regional Pokemon Champion, they can face them in battle. Unlike the pokemon games in my previous life, the challenger does not need to face them all in a single sitting and can take breaks that last anywhere from a few days to a maximum of 3 months in between the challenges. The only known Hoenn challenger to successfully face off the entire Elite Four _and_ Wallace in recent years is Steven Stone, the Champion of the 525th Ever Grande Conference and the heir to Devon Corporations, the largest business corporation in Hoenn. In fact, he completed the challenge merely a year ago. Steven is a legend among young aspiring trainers as he started out his pokemon journey at 13 years old, a full 2 years later than the norm. What makes him legendary is that he completed his gym circuit and competed in the Ever Grande Conference in a single year, where most trainers would take at least 2 years to compete. He became the Champion of the 525th conference, opted to challenge the Elite Four and Wallace, and defeated all 5 of them in battle before the start of the 526th conference. He is confirmed to assume Wallace's mantle as the next Hoenn Champion after he completed his obligatory employment in the league for 5 years. It is sufficient time for him to grow into the shoes that he will eventually have to fill, and also for the league officials to observe him to ensure that he has the necessary qualities to be Champion outside of battle, and to confirm that he has unwavering loyalty to Hoenn (can't have your Champion going rogue or be the next Giovanni). Among the general trainer populace, he is frequently ranked as one of the top contenders for _"Which trainer do you want to be your boyfriend"_ list in teenage girls magazines. The reasons cited for his high ranking in such lists boiled down to 3 main reasons. Namely, he is hot, he is rich, and he is strong.

Each of the gym leaders is also a Specialist in a certain pokemon typing. In fact, most Elite trainers in the training community ended up being a Specialist. This is because training pokemon of a specific typing is a lot easier. And even then it takes a lot of time and effort to reach the level of a Pokemon Master. The title of Pokemon Master is not given easily, and only the PWL has the authority to give out such a title. Applicants for the title have to go through a trial of tests and battles in which the details are not disclosed to the public, only that the trial is notoriously hard to complete. The Hoenn League currently has only 2 Pokemon Masters. The previous Hoenn Champion Drake is given the title of a Dragon Master, while the current Hoenn Champion Wallace is known as Hoenn's Water Master. There are rumours that Steven Stone is planning to apply for the title of Pokemon Master and he would be a Steel Master if he is successful.

Unlike the pokemon games that pokemon fans from my previous world are familiar with, gym leaders are not easy to defeat. In fact, most trainers are not expected to defeat the gym leaders. As I mentioned earlier, there are 2 different ways to earn a badge. The first way would be to beat them in a pokemon battle. Not impossible, but extremely hard. The second way, and the most common way in which most trainers earn their badges, is to impress the gym leaders with their performance during their gym battle. To successfully earn a badge, trainers have to fight their way through the gym trainers, who are hand-picked by the gym leaders themselves from a list of applicants. After defeating all the gym trainers, the trainer would then have the right to face the gym leader and aim to defeat or impress the gym leader in order to earn their badge. The entire process have to be done in a single sitting without rest. Usually, gym leaders would not use members of their main team and would often use weaker pokemons that they have on hand. The only time gym leaders will use members from their main team would be in times of crisis (ie taking out a local crime syndicate or aiding in the aftermaths of a natural disaster), or when a trainer is completing the gym circuit on the Elite trainer difficulty, or you have impressed the gym leader so much that they deemed you to be worthy to go against one. The current Sootopolis gym leader, Juan, is known to test worthy challengers with his kingdra, who is a member of his main team. There is also a certain order in which trainers have to follow to complete the gym circuit. In Hoenn, trainers aiming to compete in the Ever Grande Conference have to earn their first badge in Rustboro, followed by Dewford, and it basically follows the same order as the Pokemon Emerald game in my previous life until it ends at the Sootopolis gym.

Pokemon trainers that do not take the Specialist route will end up taking the route of a Generalist. As the name suggests, Generalists have no preference when it comes to the pokemon typing of their team. It is a much harder route to go for, as understanding and training pokemon of different types takes up a lot of time. The rewards, however, is also much greater. Unlike Specialists, there is no specific weakness that a pokemon team belonging to a Generalist is weak to. They can also cover a wider range of opponents and adapt better to harsh battling conditions. Hence, Generalists among the Elite trainers tend to be the cream of the crop among their peers, and are coveted by their regional Pokemon League and are usually given better employment benefits for their services to the league. Currently, Cynthia Shirona, the newly appointed Champion of the Sinnoh League, is the only known Generalist who is given the title of a Pokemon Master by the PWL. She is currently Vance's goal, whose dream is to one day earn the title of Pokemon Master by being a Generalist similar to Cynthia.

Other than competing in the regional league within 2 years, there is another important condition for the sponsored trainers to fulfill. Sponsored trainers often have to serve their regional Pokemon League after taking part in their regional Pokemon League Tournament. The contracted employment period in Hoenn for these sponsored trainers is 5 years, although most of the sponsored trainers often remain in the employment of the league due to the lucrative employment benefits that they enjoy. Vance himself is a sponsored trainer. Unlike me, he did not receive a regional starter from my parents. He had always wanted a treecko after seeing one on TV when he was 9 years old. However, our parents think that he is not yet mature enough to handle a regional starter, and they really do not have any extra regional starters to give out in the year when Vance first started out his journey. So, Vance being Vance, decided to do the most mature decision in his life thus far and applied to be a sponsored trainer.

My parents and I were extremely shocked when we found out that he actually managed to _successfully_ apply to be a sponsored trainer. Vance was extremely annoyed with our lack of confidence in him and would not talk to us for an entire day.

In the end, he got the treecko he always wanted and he proved to be a valuable member of Vance's team. During Vance's participation in the Ever Grande Conference, he was one of Vance's main battlers and helped sliced through Vance's opponents to earn their place as one of the top competitors of the tournament.

I might have digressed a little in my explanation of the significance of owning a mudkip. But at least you now have a better understanding of the Pokemon League and the Gym system now.

So, after shedding a few tears of joy from the excitement of receiving my parents' gift, I picked up my backpack, dressed up in my trainer attire that I recently bought, and strapped on the xtransceiver that Vance gave me, I said my goodbyes to my parents and their pokemon and stepped out of my house.

It's time to start my own adventure.

* * *

Mudkip is surprisingly picky about his own name. An hour after leaving home and halfway into Petalburg Woods, mudkip is still undecided on what he wants me to call him.

"Well, you have just refused the name of Neptune, Ocean, Willy, Brutus, and Tarus." I'm basically pulling names out of nowhere at this point, holding mudkip in my arms close to my chest while riding on Flamel's back. "I'm running out of ideas mudkip." I cannot help but sigh while mudkip just looked up at me and give me a silly grin. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew that mudkip wanted a nickname to call his own, I would have given up at this point.

Flamel, being the lovable jerk that he is, gave a snort while still carrying me on his back. He's basically laughing at my predicament. Jerk.

"Well, you will grow up to big and blue in the future," I mused aloud, "It would be best if your name can represent the idea of big or blue, or hopefully both. How about the name Bigblue?" I really wasn't thinking straight at this point, besides, there's no way mudkip would want such a simple and stupid sounding name like _Bigblue_.

To prove me wrong, mudkip chose this exact moment to voice his approval by crowing out loud and wiggle excitedly in my arms.

God damn it, Vance would laugh at me so hard when I call him on my xtransceiver later tonight.

* * *

I spent 2 days navigating through Petalburg Woods. During this period, I had my first wild pokemon encounter (a vicious but weak wurmple), had my first trainer battle and _won_ (Flamel had too much of a type advantage against most of the trainers here who mostly started out with wurmples), trained both Flamel and Bigblue, and befriended some of the wild pokemon here. My first evening as a trainer was spent in Petalburg Woods with a very curious dustox watching us a fair distance away from us as I prepared the meals for me and my pokemon.

Technology in the pokemon world is a weird thing. There is the invention of the pokeball, which has the capability to store pokemon many times larger than its own size and place them in stasis for long periods of time. It is useful to use them to hold your injured pokemon in stasis in a portable manner, and gives you enough time to find your way to the nearest pokemon center to get them treated, successfully lowering the mortality rate of pokemon that got critically injured in trainer battles. Variations of the same technology is used in trainers' equipment. My backpack, for example, has the storage capacity to fit a tent, a sleeping bag, money, a month's worth of food for me and my pokemon, cooking utensils, medicine, potions, berries, a super rod, and numerous other pokeballs. That is not even the full list of items I had on hand, and when everything is fitted into my backpack, it does not even weigh more than 2kg.

Apparently, that wild dustox was very interested in how I managed to seemingly pull items out of a small little bag. It is still a little wary though, and it was only promises of a sampling of pokemon food that he finally gave in to his curiosity to approach us. Soon, the four of us finished dinner and I called my family on my xtransceiver, my parents first, followed by Vance (who laughed mercilessly at me naming mudkip Bigblue). And as I lay down in my sleeping bag, I somehow ended up telling bedtime stories from my previous world to Dustox, which attracted more cascoons, wurmples and two more dustoxs, which attracted even more of them to flock to my campsite and I ended up telling Disney stories to a colony of bug pokemon.

Apparently these nocturnal pokemon loved Beauty and the Beast if their reaction was any indication. Who knew?

By the time I walked out of Petalburg Woods and found my way to Rustboro city, I was filled with grime, sweat and soil and I am more than ready to take a nice hot bath at the Rustboro pokemon center. It is one of the perks of being a league-registered trainer. Everyone who aspires to have a career as a pokemon trainer and compete in their regional league tournament have to register at the pokemon center with their birth certificate to become a league-registered trainer. They also have to declare if they have a starter pokemon. Those without a starter pokemon can register for one and collect them from the nearest gym, or choose to buy one from a breeding farm. League-registered trainers are also given a Pokedex, which serves as a form of identification for trainers and comes with many nifty functions, together with a start up capital of 2,000 pokedollars to buy pokeballs, potions and other neccessities. However, almost half of the original trainers that registered with the league dropped out of the gym circuit within a year after registration due to its difficulty. These trainers often found employment in pokemon related establishments and businesses.

Being a league-registered trainer comes with several perks. For one, trainers can book a room at the pokemon centers for free for a maximum of 7 days, extending the duration of the stay requires payment for the room at a discounted price. This arrangement applies to pokemon centers around the world, regardless of the region they are in as long as it is part of the PWL. Pokemon of league-registered trainers are given free medical care in pokemon centers and the trainers are able to use various services in the pokemon centers either for free or at a discounted rate.

For me, free medical care for my pokemon aside, the best perk would be the hot baths.

Two hours later, after booking a room, washing up and collecting my pokemon back from the nurse in the pokemon center (apparently not all nurses are Nurse Joys), I decided to spend the rest of my day exploring Rustboro before taking on the gym the next day. Unlike Vance, my dream is not to prove myself to be the biggest, baddest and strongest trainer in the world. Ever since I found out that I got myself into the world of Pokemon, my dream is to travel the world, a dream that my family is very well aware of. This world is an entirely new world for me, there are places to see, people to know, and there are magnificent creatures known as pokemon. I do not plan to stop my travels at Hoenn once I am done with it. After exploring Hoenn, I would travel to another region and challenge the gym circuit there at the Elite trainer difficulty, and I would probably continue this process until I finish my tour across all 7 regions that made up the PWL. The only reason why I decided to take on the gym circuit at all is solely due to the fact that travelling in the pokemon world can be dangerous. Feral wild pokemon aside, the presence of criminal organisations is still prevalent in every region, and the most notable ones in Hoenn are Team Magma and Team Aqua. In the Hoenn region, although these two criminal organisations have been pretty quiet in their activities in the last decade, they still remain as a big problem to the Hoenn League. Hence, to fulfill my dream to travel the world, I have to first make sure that I have the capabilities to at least defend myself.

Completing the gym circuit happens to be the best way for me to gain strength while satisfying my wanderlust.

My wanderlust and desire to travel the world is probably why Dad decided to give Flamel, a ponyta, as my starter as a show of unspoken support for my dream. It is really thoughtful of him, really. In this life, I had a weak body that is unable to handle strenuous activities for more than 30 minutes. It would be impossible for someone with a weak body like me to travel the world without having my body breaking down from all the stress that resulted from travelling. With Flamel, however, he can carry me on his back during my travels, and thus limiting the amount of stress I put on my body.

Putting my wanderlust aside, I still want to do well in my gym circuit, especially after seeing Vance competing in the conference. This means that I have to set some time aside from my travels to train my pokemon and plan for gym battles, something that I have to really put an effort into if I wanted to do well. Dad and Vance had both taken the time to teach me how to conduct pokemon training, and the results showed for themselves from the numerous wins I had accumulated against the trainers I met in Petalburg Woods. I probably could impress Roxanne and win myself a Stone Badge with Bigblue and Flamel tomorrow, although I am still unsure if we can defeat Roxanne. Bigblue would be my main battler and he has two egg moves (thank you Dad and Mum, for giving Bigblue to me), with one of them being an advanced egg move that could _probably_ snag a win for me if I played my cards right.

Or at least that's what I hoped.

* * *

Roxanne Hardrock is the youngest of a long line of scholars and researchers in the Hardrock clan that made their home in Rustboro city. Their family have been at the forefront of pokemon research for 5 generations and would probably continue to do so for many generations to come. Despite being scholars and researchers of pokemon, the fact that their clan's motto is "Acquisition Of Knowledge Before All" means that none of the 36 members of their clan has ever took part in a single pokemon battle, judging pokemon battles to be useless in their undying quest for knowledge.

Thus, it came as a shock to her clan when Roxanne decided to register herself as a pokemon trainer the moment she reaches 11 years of age.

Roxanne have the same love and thirst for knowledge as any other member of her clan. That thirst can only be matched with a drive that she has within her to push herself to be the strongest trainer in all the battles she partook in. A drive that is lacking in the other members of her clan. Not a single member of her clan approved of her decision to be a pokemon trainer. Not her uncles, not her aunts, not her grandparents, and certainly not her parents. They did not voice it out loud, but the subtle disapproving glances they shot her way when they thought she was not looking spoke volumes of their disapproval.

So when the registration paperwork with the league was done, Roxanne walked out of her clan's compound in the wee hours of the morning the next day without saying goodbye to a single soul. She left with nothing but her trainer equipment, a backpack full of travelling essentials, the clothes on her back, and Stonebeak, her nosepass and starter.

During the course of her gym circuit, she discovered a fondness for rock type pokemon. She felt that the qualities embodied by rock type pokemon is an avid representation of what she wished to be. She loves how they stood unwavering in the face of adversity, and marvels at how they throw themselves head on at foes many times stronger than them and survive. She found herself admiring them so much that she hoped that she can one day possess the same qualities found in her rock type pokemon. Her rock companions taught her more than just knowledge, knowledge that cannot be found in books. They taught her that there is more to life than trying to seek approval from her clan. So when the crucial point in her trainer career came where she had to decide to be a Specialist or a Generalist, she didn't hesitate. From that day onwards, her dream is to be a Rock Master, with Stonebeak at her side.

Her pokemon journey was not easy, but it certainly was not as hard as she imagined it to be. Not for someone like her, who spent a majority of her life trying to gain new knowledge of the wondrous creatures known as pokemon. Whatever tactics and pokemon that her opponents threw at her, she fell back on her vast knowledge of pokemon and countered it with a methodological approach with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. How can no one in her clan _see_ that knowledge without application is knowledge wasted? Acquisition of new knowledge means nothing if you do not know how to apply it. For this very purpose, for the sake of her ideals, she trained both her pokemon and herself relentlessly, both in mind and body. She looked forward to the day when she finally returned back to Rustboro, back to her clan. She looked forward to the day when she can walk with her head held high and show her clan members that they judged her wrongly.

She succeeded.

She did not win the Ever Grande Conference that she took part in, much to her dismay, but she did end up taking 2nd place, and made the Champion of that year work damn hard to earn his position at the top. From that moment, the family name of Hardrock is no longer synonymous with just research. Trainers look upon the Hardrock clan, looked upon _her_ as a symbol and successful example of combining both knowledge and application.

After seeing her stellar performance in the conference, her clan had came to accept, albeit begrudgingly, that she was right. Not like she cared much for their opinions. She had reconciled with her family, and they are still family to her. She would care for them as a member of the family, but she would not allow anyone to disrespect her dream and she would respect theirs. Besides, they are not the only family she has. She had accumulated a family of her own during her journey, and each and every one of them are willing to stand alongside her to achieve her dream. Stonebeak, now a probopass, has been her bedrock of the ideals that she stood by, and she would stand by him just as what he did for her.

Things slowed down for a short period after her participation in the conference. Many opportunities were open to her after people took notice of her performance at the conference. Like the other trainers that performed well, she had the opportunity to apply for any position within the 3 main league forces, or take up job offers offered to her by other pokemon establishments and businesses. She decided to pursue a career with the league, but ruled out joining ACE. In her opinion, ACE members lived a hectic lifestyle that is not conducive to her learning. That led her to consider her remaining options. She could join the Ranger force, whose job is to help defend nature, preventing illegal poaching of pokemon and preserving the delicate balance between humans and pokemon, acting as a sort of cross between a police officer or park ranger. Or she can join the Local Security Defense Force, also known as the LSDF, whose job is to protect the town that they are assigned to and act as police officers. They are the first line of defense for the town in the event of an emergency.

After much consideration, she decided to join the Ranger force, but put in a special request to work under Aaron Cliff, a noteworthy Rock Specialist and the leader of Hoenn's 3rd Ranger Squad. Her time in the 3rd Ranger Squad was split between completing her Ranger duties and learning under Aaron's tutelage. Majority of the required knowledge that she needs to know as a aspiring Rock Specialist was passed on to her during her time in the Ranger force. She would forever be grateful to Aaron, who is a dutiful teacher, and an even better friend. When she completed the final test that Aaron had set for her with flying colours, he advised her that it is time for her to leave the Ranger force to see the world, for he had nothing left to teach her. She took his advice and left the force after 2 years of service.

Roxanne decided to travel to Pewter city, located in the Kanto region, which is home to numerous Rock Specialists and had produced several Rock Masters since PWL was founded. She found a kindred spirit in Brock Takeshi, the newly appointed gym leader of Pewter City, and she spent her time there exchanging pointers with the surprisingly shy gym leader.

Roxanne returned to Rustboro after spending 6 months in Pewter, meeting every Rock Specialist she could find. She is still undecided on what she wanted to pursue as a permanent career. She could always go back to the Ranger force, but she had nothing left to learn there and would probably get bored soon after. The Ground Specialist and elderly gym leader of Rustboro, Noel Clayman, welcomed her to be a gym trainer at his gym with the offer that she could leave anytime she wanted when she decided on what she wanted to pursue as a career.

What she assumed was a mundane job turned out to be the final factor in helping her to decide what she wanted to do as her career.

During her stint as a gym trainer, Roxanne met many novice trainers who just started on their pokemon journey. She was horrified by the utter _lack_ of knowledge of pokemon from these novice trainers. To a Hardrock, such a thing is unacceptable. An ignorant trainer is not only a danger to themselves, but a hazard to their pokemon and a liability to the public. She had witnessed 6 incidents where pokemon were nearly sent to their deaths due to the ignorance of their trainers in the span of a month. The trainers did not wished for this to happen either. Many of them were traumatised when they saw their pokemon friends bleeding out on the ground and she often found herself yelling at them to quickly recall their pokemon back to their pokeballs and send them to the pokemon center for treatment. She realised that if Hoenn wants their trainer community to progress, something needs to be done to educate novice trainers on how to handle their pokemon.

And so, the Rock Specialist who just turned 17 did the most ambitious project she had ever embarked on: setting up a Pokemon Trainers' School.

It was an uphill battle. She had to secure a plot of land to build the school in land-scarce Rustboro, she had to somehow acquire fundings to build her new school, she had to find qualified teaching staffs who were willing to support her dreams and help to run the school and teach in her absence, she had to draft up a curriculum and the teaching syllabus, she had to repeatedly convince the local authorities and the league officials to support her idea of a trainer school. There is just so many things to do.

Roxanne would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified. She was only a 17 year old girl who knew nothing outside of studying and pokemon battles. There were times where she would break down in the privacy of her bedroom and cry from all the stress that she is facing. Stonebeak stayed by her side and kept a silent vigil during these times. She was on the verge of giving up after experiencing failures after failures for 6 consecutive months.

The very first good news arrived from an unexpected source. News of her efforts have caught the attention of Joseph Stone, the President of Devon Corporation and well-known philanthropist to the cause of pokemon trainers. He sent his son, Steven Stone, to the Hardrock clan compound in person to inform her that Devon Corporation would like to support her in building a Pokemon Trainer's School. Devon Corporation donated a large building situated in the middle of Rustboro to be converted into a teaching facility. From then on, good news came one after another. The Hoenn League had stated an interest in her project after looking through the teaching curriculum and syllabus she had drafted, and planned to help fund her project and send qualified educators to help her. They also stated that if the project proved to be successful in Rustboro, they would consider building a Pokemon Trainer's School in every major city in Hoenn and made it mandatory for aspiring trainers to complete tests to certify that they are ready and responsible enough to be a pokemon trainer. Aaron and Noel managed to find several retired trainers, all of them were Specialists and an expert in their respective fields. They are willing to teach the next generation of pokemon trainers and to help prepare them to take their first steps into the world of pokemon. Her clan is surprisingly supportive, donating books and gave constructive suggestions to Roxanne on not only what subjects to teach, but also on _how_ to teach it.

The Rustboro Pokemon Trainer's School turned out to be a huge success. By the time the first batch of students graduated from the school and became registered trainers, there is already a decrease in a number of injured pokemon sent to Rustboro pokemon center due to trainer's negligence. Their graduated students have a significantly higher success rate in earning their first gym badge. Two years later, the Hoenn League had went through with their promise and set up Pokemon Trainer's Schools in every major city in Hoenn.

Hoenn became the first and only region in the world with an education system for its trainers, and Roxanne was the one who spearheaded the change.

Being a certified genius herself, she personally understands that every child is different and they learn at different speeds. She does not want to bore an intelligent child with knowledge that they are already familiar with. It inspired her to implement an exemption system, which is a way for children to skip through the whole compulsory education system and still be a registered trainer. If the child is able to sit through the same exam that she gives to the graduating students of her school and pass, they can be exempted from the Trainer's School. Only a small handful managed it every year.

The setting up of a Pokemon Trainer's School did delay her progress in striving to be a Rock Master. But she still dedicate time to train her pokemon every day no matter how busy she is. She is now a celebrity in Rustboro, and is one of the most influential trainers in Hoenn. Citizens would wave and greet her whenever she walk through the streets of Rustboro. Children would run up to her and proclaim that she is what they would strive to be in the future. She is loved by the people. She also holds the title of the strongest trainer in the city after defeating Noel's main team in an official trainer match. It was a match that Noel had requested after the successful implementation of the Pokemon Trainer's School across the region, and Roxanne would never refuse a request from Noel if it is within her capabilities to do so. When Noel tender in his retirement half a year later to the Hoenn League due to old age, he sent in his recommendation together with Aaron to the league for Roxanne to take his place.

Citizens of Rustboro welcomed the change with open arms. They were sad at the departure of Noel, who had been their leader and protector for more than 40 years. But they were also excited at the prospect of a new gym leader, who proved herself to be even stronger than Noel. Roxanne is known to be someone who is not afraid to bring about change if it is the right thing to do. It does not matter that she is one of the youngest gym leader ever appointed in Hoenn's history. She had did so much for Rustboro, it is time for Rustboro to do something for her as well.

Roxanne succeeded Noel as Rustboro gym leader when she was 20 years old.

Roxanne's duties as a gym leader and the founder of the Pokemon Trainer School made her a very busy woman with very little personal time for herself. But she managed it just fine and even managed to enter into a romantic relationship away from the prying eyes of the public. Her boyfriend's job is equally time-consuming and he spends most of his time at Dewford due to the nature of his job. In their case, distance does makes the heart grow fonder and she is confident that between the two of them, they can make things work.

The first thing she did as the new gym leader of Rustboro is to remodel the gym to her liking, since her predecessor is a Ground Specialist and she is a Rock Specialist, whatever had worked for him may not necessary work for her. Some of the gym trainers left the gym together with Noel and she had to personally pick new gym trainers to fill in the vacancies. She also changed the design of the Rustboro gym badge and renamed it the Stone Badge, as a reminder to herself that she is what she is today because she had help from her rock companions at every step of the way.

Another year passed and Roxanne's life fell in place into a predictable rhythm. Currently, she is in her own personal waiting room watching the replay of the final match of the 526th Ever Grande Conference (which just ended about a week ago) while sipping on a cup of coffee, waiting for a worthy challenger to face her. At the same time, another digital screen is showing her gym trainers busy demolishing -correction- _tutoring_ the challengers that challenged the gym. She waited for a few hours, until the clock strikes two in the afternoon. A certain blonde-haired female challenger caught her eye after she defeated the second gym trainer she faced. There was something _peculiar_ in the way she was handling the challenges. When she remodeled her gym, she made it into a maze where challengers have to navigate to get to the gym leader. Gym trainers are situated at different parts of the maze and challengers would have to battle them every time they run into a gym trainer. There is only one possible route to complete the entire maze without running into any gym trainers. There are clues written on the stone walls that made up the maze. These clues are in the form of questions that test the knowledge of the challengers regarding pokemon, and are at the standard of an intermediate level trainer, someone who has earned about 4 or 5 badges. What this particular child seems to be doing, is to go in the exact opposite direction that she is supposed to go if she answered the question correctly. Roxanne could accept the child's encounters with the first two gym trainers as mere coincidence. But when she proceeded to defeat the third and fourth gym trainer in quick succession she would be a fool to brush it off as coincidence. This child is finding and challenging all the gym trainers on purpose. To add insult to injury for her gym trainers, the blond child is decimating their rock type pokemon with only a single pokemon. A ponyta to boot. Such a feat has not yet been seen in her short tenure as a gym leader. Furthermore, ponyta is a fire type with a distinct disadvantage to rock type pokemon. For most pokemon trainers, they would at least use four pokemon in their first gym battle. It is simply easier to earn their first gym badge by having more pokemon on their team.

Roxanne also added a mental note to personally supervise the training of her gym leaders after this. They are in need of some serious help if all 5 of them ended getting bested by a single ponyta.

Roxanne cannot help but let a grin creep up onto the side of her face. She had not been faced in a challenge for the past 3 days and she is bored out of her mind. She can tell that this child -no- _challenger_ , is smart. Five minutes into spectating her match and she is already eager to face this challenger in a battle of wits. As the new challenger faced off her fifth and last gym trainer, Roxanne calmly stood up, grabbed her pokeballs, and walked out of her room towards the arena at the end of the maze.

Roxanne's challenger would be arriving soon, and it would be rude of her to keep her challenger waiting.

* * *

The Rustboro gym challenge is hard.

I know I kind of asked for it by challenging the gym with only two pokemon, but among the wild pokemon that I encountered before arriving at Rustboro, there are none that I really felt a connection to. I have no interest in having the strongest pokemon, and challenging the gym circuit is only a means to an end for me. I have always been a bit of a romantic. Remember how in Harry Potter, where wand maker Ollivander told Harry that the wand chooses the wizard? Not the other way around? It is the best explanation I have right now on why I have only two pokemon on hand where most trainers would have at least three or four pokemon on their team. I do not want to catch wild pokemon against their will and force them to travel with me. The entire thing just feels wrong to me. I would prefer if the pokemon chose to come with me willingly. I know it is a stupid ideology to follow if I ever wanted to compete in the Ever Grande League, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Despite the challenge and type disadvantage, Flamel and I managed to defeat all 5 gym trainers. I could have taken the easy way out and simply follow the route with no opposition at all. But there's no way my team and I can grow into our full potential if we stick to that mindset. Besides, if my experience from my previous life taught me anything, it is that book smarts can only bring you so far in life. When Flamel and I wrapped up our last battle with the gym trainers, he could barely stand on his legs, and for that moment I felt that I am a horrible trainer for pushing him to the brink of exhaustion. I quickly recalled him to his pokeball, and made a mental note to treat him to his favourite food, a whole bowl of Rawst berry when we are done with the gym no matter what the outcome of our challenge is.

I know Flamel is more than capable to take on multiple rock types and win. My experience with rock type pokemons on my family's farm had made me realised that while the rock plating of these rock types gave them a natural defense against fire attacks, that does not mean they are immune to heat. If the flames are hot enough, or if the fire type pokemon blasted the rock type pokemon continuously with flames, the fire type can literally "cook" the rock type pokemon alive. There are also records where a charizard belonging to an Elite trainer in Johto produced flames so hot that it can melt rocks.

Flamel and I spent a lot of our time together on my family's farm. Part of our time spent together is watching the pokemon in our family's farm. Humans often don't give pokemon enough credit for their intelligence. With the exception of Technical Machines, or TM in short, one of the fastest way for pokemon to learn new moves is through observation. Flamel picked up more than just a few tricks by simply observing. He learnt the move Sunny Day by watching nuzleafs lounging in the sun, and Flamethrower from the houndooms when they play with their pups. It took a long time before Flamel managed to master an advanced move like Flamethrower, but it is our secret weapon to earning our first gym badge. Flamel and I "cooked" through the gym trainers' rock type pokemons with the classic Sunny Day and Flamethrower combo, a basic combo for most fire types that I trained Flamel in during our training in Petalburg Woods. With Flamel taking out all the opposition from the gym trainers, it allows a very fresh and well-rested Bigblue to battle Roxanne. It is also an open secret that Roxanne actually allows the challenger to decide the maximum number of pokemon each of them are both allowed to use when facing her in battle, which is an advantage for me.

An advantage that I am planning to make full use of.

* * *

I did not know what I was expecting when I finally met Roxanne waiting in her challenger box on the other end of the arena after exiting the maze. But I certainly did not expect the first sentence in our conversation is for her to ask me a question.

"Are the questions in the maze too easy?"

I blinked in response, unsure of how I would go about answering this question without accidentally offending her. I might have hurt her pride a little when I answered all the questions in the maze wrongly on purpose. I should really think a little more about the consequences of my actions the next time I go for my subsequent gym challenges.

"Uh... the answers are not too hard to derive if you spent time observing pokemon." I answered lamely, before quickly adding on, "Sorry if my actions offended you." I completed my response with a short bow of my head to show my apology. It is probably a smarter choice to apologise first before getting wrecked by her in battle later.

Roxanne gave a short laugh before giving a casual wave with her left hand. "Relax, I am not blaming you or anything. I am actually impressed." She paused to take a better look at me before continuing, "It takes great skill to answer everything correctly, and an even greater skill to get everything wrong on purpose. You are the first to do what you did, you know?"

"Thank you?" I replied hesitantly, unsure of how to go about with this. "I am honoured." I said with sincerity. To receive a gym leader's praise at your very first gym challenge is something to be proud of. I am so rubbing it in Vance's face at my next available chance. He got destroyed in his first gym battle against Noel Clayman, the previous Rustboro gym leader although he did get Noel's recognition and earned his first gym badge. Vance placed a 1,000 pokedollars bet with me that I would get destroyed in my very first gym battle. I plan to earn that 1,000 pokedollars from him and wave the wad of cash in his face just because I could.

"You may or may not know this, but I usually allow my challengers to choose the maximum number of pokemon that each of us are both allowed to use. How many pokemon would you like to use?"

"One. One pokemon for each side." I replied immediately. The nervousness is starting to get to me and I am starting to feel the jitters.

"Alright." She pressed a button on a remote that she fished out from her pocket, and right in front of me, a horizontal panel opened up in the challenger box where I am standing. "Place your Pokedex on the panel so that we can register this as an official gym battle. We will start our battle after that. I would also be taking a recording of our battles as per the League's regulations."

I spent my time waiting for the registration to complete by observing Roxanne. She looks and dressed exactly like how I remembered her to be from the games and anime. She is also really pretty in real life. Although for a woman in her early 20s, she is really petite. I was brought out of my thoughts when the beeping sound from the panel notified me that the registration is complete. I placed my Pokedex back in my pocket and palmed Bigblue's pokeball in my right hand.

Here comes the moment of truth.

With an unspoken signal, both Roxanne and I released the pokeballs in our hand.

She sent out a nosepass, which is within my expectations. Bigblue immediately went on the offensive to put the plan we conceived beforehand in action. He darted around the battlefield sending bursts of Water Gun, each of them hitting nosepass accurately while dodging nosepass's attacks. As a mudkip, BigBlue is small and nimble, and I plan to use that to my advantage. That advantage would disappear when he eventually evolves into a Marshtomp and eventually a Swampert where he will sacrifice speed and mobility for an even greater increase in strength and defense. For now, being small and nimble will have to do. I had put Bigblue through a series of agility exercises Dad and Fang had showed me, and had Bigblue practice his accuracy with Water Gun by doing random target practice when we were travelling through Petalburg Woods. We would walk side by side and I would randomly point at a distant object at a random time for Bigblue to shoot. Once he got good enough, I made Flamel the target. Flamel was annoyed by the arrangement, but it was good evasion practice for him and the perfect target practice for Bigblue.

Bigblue dove in and out of nosepass's reach, shooting Water Guns and Mud-Slapping the area around them. This makes the arena extremely slippery for nosepass but the perfect environment for my mud fish pokemon. Bigblue is now in his element, and we had successfully changed the terrain to our advantage. Nosepass's patience seems to have thinned, and he began to spam Rock Throws and Power Gems at Bigblue. None of them hit, of course, the chances of them connecting with Bigblue in an environment to his advantage is slim to none. The heavy rocks nosepass summoned have dug holes and trenches into the arena, loosening the ground around them in the process. My only real worry when facing nosepass is the possibility of it knowing electric type moves. A well-placed electric move can potentially knock Bigblue out, and the danger of it has been amplified when we filled the arena with moisture.

For the sake of earning my 1,000 pokedollars from Vance, we need to end this soon.

"Bigblue, NOW!"

On my signal, Bigblue unleashed a massive torrent of water. The Whirlpool that resulted from it managed to wash the bulky rock type of its feet, spiraling nosepass faster than my eyes could comprehend.

 _The wheels of the car go round and round._

Pushing that annoying song out of my head, I managed to observe the aftermath of the Whirlpool attack after it died down. When I first scanned Bigblue with my Pokedex, I found out that Whirlpool is one of the two egg moves Bigblue possessed, and it is extremely useful for trapping purposes, or to simply sweeping your opponents off their feet in battle. Thanks to the plentiful mud from the repeated use of Mud-Slap beforehand, and nosepass loosening the ground around the area with his rock type techniques, Bigblue had successfully turned the entire arena into a swamp. From my high vantage point up in the challenger box, nosepass is now trapped and stuck in a swamp, and unlike Bigblue, it does not have the anatomy required to move in such an environment. Right now, nosepass is a literal sitting duck and the perfect target for Bigblue.

"Water Gun barrage! Take him out!"

On command, Bigblue sent a barrage of Water Guns at nosepass, and I really hope we can end this soon. Bigblue can only produce and hold a set amount of water in his body before having to rest and replenish his water store. The Whirlpool attack that he pulled prior to this and the Water Gun barrage that he is currently doing is our last ditch attempt in putting down nosepass and is a massive drain on his water store. If Bigblue ran out of water, we are pretty much screwed.

Well, we still have one more attack up our sleeves if it comes down to it, but I rather not use it.

Roxanne begin to issue commands to nosepass, and I didn't manage to hear what she said. But when nosepass started to produce arcs of electricity and started propelling itself towards Bigblue like a missile, I only need a glance to know that nosepass is trying to bring down Bigblue with a powerful Spark.

I just have to jinx ourselves, didn't I.

"Bigblue, brace yourself! Then use that other attack!"

It is a dangerous move, especially for a pokemon as young as Bigblue. It is the second egg move that Bigblue possess, and an advanced egg move. That particular move can only be usually pulled off by evolved or adult pokemon. For a young pokemon, any lapse of judgement on the trainer's or pokemon's part can potentially cause the death of the pokemon. Both trainer and pokemon have to trust each other unconditionally.

I trust Bigblue, and I knew he trusted me. I had warned and prepared him for this possibility and we need a lot of skill and a bit little of luck on our side. The conditions for us to pull off this move are all present. We have trained for this.

We can do this.

Bigblue's scream of pain when nosepass's Spark connected with him nearly made me lose my composure. I had to squash down the urge to immediately recall Bigblue into the safe confines of his pokeball. It would be inappropriate for me to throw in the towel right now after all the efforts Flamel and Bigblue had put into this gym challenge.

Just when I thought I could not take it anymore, Bigblue pulled off an absolutely _brilliant_ Counter and smacked nosepass between the eyes. The force of the attack sent nosepass flying through the arena. It came to a violent stop when he hit the invisible psychic barriers erected for the safety of trainers, which is between the edge of the arena and the challenger box where Roxanne is.

Nosepass didn't get back up. I couldn't view Bigblue's status from where I was due to all the residue smoke as an aftereffect of their attacks. I palmed Bigblue's pokeball in my right hand, ready to recall him at a moment's notice. Gym badge and Vance's money be damned, I am not sacrificing my pokemon, not for something as superficial as this.

A few seconds later, Bigblue trotted out of the smoke and walked in my direction, his head fin and tail waving excitedly. He gave me his trademark silly, goofy grin and begin barking in excitement.

We won.

And as I held Bigblue in my arms twirling around like a 5 year old after rushing down to pick him up in the arena, I can't help but laugh at the thought that Vance's wallet is going to be 1,000 pokedollars lighter very soon.

* * *

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, reincarnated soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Mudkip (Bigblue), male**

 **Vance Vera, Age: 18, Male, ACE trainer and second-in-command to his ACE squad, older brother to Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gengar (Macky), male**

 **2) Sceptile**

 **3) Electivire**

 **Confirmed to have 5 other pokemons, unknown**

 **Other notable mentions:**

 **Roxanne Hardrock, Age: 21, Female, Rustboro City Gym Leader, Former member of the Ranger force**

 **1) Probopass (Stonebeak), male**

 **2) Nosepass (Used for gym challenges for novice trainers), male**


	3. Chapter 3- Onward to Dewford

Roxanne is impressed. Impressed is not a word that she would use lightly when describing novice trainers.

She had to admit that she underestimated Velda, even for just a little. And that at that beginning of their battle, she had been "playing with her food", so to speak. She wasn't being 100% serious. But then again, no novice trainers would survive in a battle against her if she was 100% serious, even if the pokemon she used is not from her main team.

Roxanne actually knew the name of Velda Vera about a year ago, before having to meet her in person. As a newly appointed gym leader back then, she was busy trying to adjust to her hectic schedule. Her Trainer's School is able to run properly by itself by then without much interference on her part, but she still makes it a point to do something for the school every now and then.

She was grading the exam papers for those who applied for exemption from the school, there weren't many applicants, so it was a relatively easy job.

As usual, only a few passed.

She was halfway through in grading a paper when she noted that the script she's been marking did not have a single mistake yet.

She continued to grade the paper and soon arrived at the open-ended portion. What she saw astounded her.

Every single answer on the script is correct.

Upon scrutiny, some of the answers were actually knowledge of pokemon on the intermediate or Elite trainer level. Heck, Roxanne didn't know some of these facts until she was a member of the Ranger forces.

Roxanne had no qualms in giving that particular script full marks. This child even managed to find time to doodle on the back the exam paper. Cheeky brat.

Flipping over to the front of the paper, she saw that the owner of this exam script belongs to a girl named Velda Vera.

A child from the _Vera_ family. That explains certain things. She could tell that some of Velda's answers were from practical hands-on experience with handling pokemon. A child who lived on a pokemon breeding farm would certainly have the experience.

She would file her thoughts on Velda Vera away for another day, she still has a stack of papers to grade.

The days passed, and she had pretty much forget about Velda Vera. So it was a surprise that one year later, she suddenly found herself facing the same child in a gym battle.

She finally had a face to match the name.

Roxanne didn't know at first glance that this blond-haired child was the same child who had impressed her while grading exam scripts a year ago. Not until when the gym's computer system had finished the registration with the child's Pokedex to register the upcoming battle as an official gym leader battle.

She did not manage to keep the brief look of surprise from showing on her face when the digital panel in front of her displayed the name of the challenger as Velda Vera. She stole a glance at her challenger standing across the arena facing her. Well, now she's not so surprised that the challenger, now known as Velda Vera, actually managed to get all the questions in the maze wrong on purpose.

Velda sent out a mudkip. Roxanne can't help but raise an eyebrow. Mudkips were rare. Her mind habitually went through about the various facts that she knows about the mudkip species. This particular mudkip couldn't be more than a few months old at most. Its water typing would definitely help in a battle against her, someone who is well known for her preference for rock type pokemon. Maybe Velda is a sponsored trainer? Roxanne wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, Velda certainly has the smarts to successfully apply for it.

Roxanne herself had sent out a nosepass. This nosepass is an offspring of Stonebeak. Rock type pokemon age slowly, and this nosepass is still relatively young at one year old. Weak enough to be used in a novice trainer gym battle, but strong enough to give novice trainers a good challenge.

Roxanne tried not to cringe when she heard Velda calling out on the nickname of her mudkip, Bigblue. She didn't have the right to comment, considering that she named her starter Stonebeak. Besides, she had heard worse nicknames. A particular memorable name belonged to a blastoise in the hands of a Kanto trainer, who came to Hoenn to complete Hoenn's gym circuit on an Elite trainer level of difficulty.

He named his blastoise ' _Superturtle_ '.

If the name was meant to be a distraction for her, it worked. She was so undecided on falling into peals of laughter or remaining shocked that someone named a blastoise _Superturtle_ that the Kanto Trainer got the first move in with his blastoise.

Not that it changed the outcome of the battle. _Superturtle_ laid on the ground in a sizzling heap after Stonebeak zapped it with a Zap Cannon.

She still awarded that trainer with a Stone Badge. Bad naming sense aside, he did show the qualities that an Elite trainer should possess.

It didn't stop her from sharing a recording of the battle to her boyfriend and Dewford's gym leader, Brawly, that very same night though. And they both bonded that night by laughing at that trainer's bad naming sense over their xtransceiver in the privacy of their own rooms.

He sent her a video recording of his battle a few days later, showing how his hariyama pummeled Superturtle to the ground.

That Kanto trainer didn't manage to earn the Knuckle Badge from Brawly.

Roxanne brought her thoughts back to reality when Velda's mudkip fired the opening salvo. True to its nature, the young mud fish pokemon is extremely slippery and nosepass had a hard time keeping up with it. She knew that Velda was planning something when her mudkip started to throw mud everywhere, and her plan certainly would not stop at simply making the battlefield extremely slippery for nosepass. Roxanne is willing to wait and see how the battle would develop.

Nosepass begin retaliating by dishing out its own attacks, ripping out chunks of stone from the arena and sending them hurtling towards mudkip. As expected, none of the rocks hit. But that is ok. Nosepass had more than a few tricks that it learnt from Stonebeak when it comes to dealing with slippery opponents.

The battle continued in this way for a short while, and just when Roxanne decided to amp up the intensity of the battle and send out a command to her nosepass, Velda shouted her next command to mudkip.

What happened next was the most brilliant move she ever saw that was pulled off by a novice trainer. Mudkip actually pulled off a _Whirlpool_ off all things. It is definitely an egg move, no mudkip at that age have the experience and knowledge to learn such a move unless it knows the move instinctively since birth. Having a pokemon that knows such a move is an advantage for a novice trainer. An advantage that Velda knew she had and made full use of.

What made the move truly brilliant, in Roxanne's opinion, is that it turned the entire arena into a swamp. The best terrain for mudkip to fight in, and one of the worst for her nosepass. A very classic and perfect textbook example of turning the environment into your advantage, and by extension, controlling the flow of the battle in your favour.

Roxanne have to remember to ask Velda later if she would mind if she use the video recording of this battle for education purposes. The kids at her school can learn many things by simply watching this battle up to this point.

She also noted that nosepass might have dug its own literal grave with his liberal use of rock techniques. It made the ground around him too loose. Loose enough for mudkip to successfully trap him in a swamp after encompassing the area with a Whirlpool.

By this point Roxanne would have given the Stone Badge to Velda no matter what the outcome of the battle is. Velda's skill as a trainer is clearly beyond novice level if this is anything to go by. She would be the first novice trainer that she faced to earn her Stone Badge with just 2 pokemon.

Still, she has to do something to get her nosepass out of that swamp.

"Nosepass, use Spark! "

Despite being a rock type pokemon, nosepass and its evolutionary line is capable of learning some pretty decent electric type moves. Researchers have speculated that the reason for this is due to nosepass's ability to produce its own magnetism. Through the laws of electromagnetism, it is entirely possible for nosepass to produce its own electricity, depending on how adept it is in controlling its own magnetic field.

Stonebeak is entirely capable of supplying her entire gym with electricity for an hour. An achievement not many non-electric type pokemon can boast. Nosepass still has a long way to go in this regard.

Nevertheless, the Spark attack did manage to lift nosepass out of the swamp and propel itself towards mudkip. Roxanne half-expected mudkip to dodge out of the way. Dodging would not do any good for mudkip, the area is too full of moisture, and nosepass can easily conduct the electricity to mudkip even if Spark didn't make contact. It is the downside of this strategy. Any pokemon with a decent electric move can turn the tables around back on mudkip in this environment. The disadvantage of this strategy would disappear when mudkip evolves into a marshtomp and gain a partial ground type typing, which will be carried over when it eventually evolves into a swampert. Roxanne can already see the beauty of this strategy in the higher levels of pokemon battles.

 _Just her luck that nosepass knows an electric move and mudkip has no form of resistance to it._ She thought. Velda had done well, but Roxanne would win this battle either way.

Or at least that's what she thought.

Roxanne certainly didn't expect Velda to command mudkip to brace itself for a counter attack. And as nosepass gets closer and closer to mudkip like a sharpedo gunning for its prey, she cannot recall any moves at a moment's notice that a young mudkip would know to get it out of this situation.

Nosepass's Spark attack did connect, and Roxanne thought that whatever plan Velda has conjured probably didn't went through. And when she was about to stop the battle, she witnessed one of the biggest turnaround in pokemon battles that she ever experienced.

The Counter that mudkip used totally took her by surprise. It is an advanced egg move, and for a very good reason. An advanced egg move is usually too dangerous for a young pokemon to use properly and safely. Hence, any pokemon that was given by the league to novice trainers as a starter pokemon, like those given out at pokemon gyms or by Professor Birch, were checked by the league to ensure that they do not know any of these egg moves. Young pokemon with advanced egg moves are only given to experienced trainers.

Of course, the league cannot interfere if novice trainers are able to somehow obtain a starter pokemon with advanced egg moves outside of the league's help. Such trainers usually got their starters from a pokemon breeding farm or from other experienced trainers, whose pokemon have offsprings of their own.

At least she now knows that Velda Vera is not a sponsored trainer.

In the case for the move Counter, it is dangerous to young pokemon due to the fact that the move requires the user to first take damage, before reflecting double the damage it received back to the opponent. The condition to use Counter is very specific as well, for the user has to receive _physical_ damage for Counter to work. It is not a move preferred by most trainers, even among the Elite trainers. There is too much judgement involved on both the trainer's and pokemon's part in pulling off this move, although it can be very rewarding. Velda and her mudkip was playing a very dangerous game. Mudkip is still too young and unable to take too much damage. In this battle, taking too little damage before using Counter would not be able to take nosepass down, and mudkip would be too weak after receiving the Spark attack to finish the job. On the other hand, taking too much damage before using Counter would put mudkip out of commission and possibly in life threatening condition. Thus, there's only a very small window of opportunity for mudkip to use Counter and defeat nosepass in one clean hit.

Velda and mudkip had both managed to grasp that small window of opportunity.

Roxanne can't help but remain awestruck as she recalled her nosepass back to its pokeball. Velda is the first trainer she had ever heard to not only successfully complete her first gym challenge with only 2 pokemon, but to also defeat the gym leader in an official match. She may need to check the Hoenn League databases later to see if Velda had set a new record in the Hoenn gym circuit since its founding.

Velda's ponyta even had a type disadvantage.

Roxanne can't keep the smile off her face as she saw Velda and her mudkip celebrating their victory down below at the arena. _She might just be the next Steven Stone_ , she mused. She remembered the kind teenage boy with fondness, who wasn't even a trainer yet at that time. He appeared at her clan compound in person at the time when she needed help the most in building the school. That same boy then proceeded to take the world by storm, ended up defeating Wallace, and is now preparing himself to take over the job of being the next Hoenn Champion.

Roxanne can see the same potential in Velda. She suddenly felt the urge to take Velda under her wing, to teach her everything she knew, just as what Aaron had once did for her. As a gym leader, Roxanne is more than qualified to take on an official apprentice. Too bad Velda didn't seem the type to be interested in being a Rock Specialist. Roxanne would have to ask Velda about that later.

She walked down the stairs towards the arena where Velda is, where she is busy chattering to her mudkip.

"Congratulations," Roxanne said sincerely, succeeding in grabbing Velda's attention "I certainly wasn't expecting your mudkip to be able to use Counter. And so effectively at that. It was beautiful." She took out the Stone Badge and a TM from her pocket, and pressed it into Velda's palm. "I don't think I have to explain to you what these are. I don't usually give out TMs to challengers, and only give them out to those who I deem worthy. You have earned it. This is a reusable TM that contains the move Rock Tomb, a simple move that is suitable to introduce most non-rock type pokemon into learning how to use rock type moves. Use it well. As for your prize money, it will be transferred to your bank account by the end of the week."

Velda's jaw visibly dropped and Roxanne watched in great amusement in watching her trying to form coherent sentences. She can understand why. Reusable TMs are valuable, simply because they can be used repeatedly. They have only been invented two years ago and are currently very expensive, even more so for a novice trainer. The PWL had planned to find ways to reduce the cost of reusable TMs, and to slowly phase out the old type of TMs that can only be used once with the reusable TMs. The old type of TMs creates a huge wastage and numerous pollution problems when the discs are disposed due to the unique metal used in its production. Industries have tried to design a recycling process of TMs, or find a suitable substitute material to the unique metal used in creating TMs. But none of them are efficient enough to be useful. Thus, the concept of reusable TMs remain as the best solution.

Currently, the PWL hoped to replace all the single-use TMs within 5 years. Personally, Roxanne thinks that it will take a little longer than that.

"Th-Thank you so much." Velda stuttered while trying to keep the paws of a very curious mudkip away from the TM. She shifted uneasily on her feet, trying to find something to say.

Roxanne realised that despite her bright mind, Velda might have been a social recluse. She had seen such children when she was teaching at the school, and quite a number of them are the smartest kids she ever had the honour to teach. Most of the time, because these children are too smart and mature for their peers, they often find themselves unable to connect to them. These children tend to prefer to do things alone, things that other children their age would not be interested in. After time, their lack of any social interaction often resulted in displays of awkwardness around strangers. Most likely, Velda is either home-schooled by her parents, or had a private tutor to teach her. Judging from her impression of Velda, she is more inclined to think it's the former. She took a look at the clock hung on the wall at the side of the arena. It's currently 2.30 pm in the afternoon. The gym would close and have a short break from 3 to 4 pm and resume it's activities from 4 to 7pm before closing for the day. There probably would not be anymore challengers from now till 3.

With her decision made, she turned and asked, "Do you like to have tea with me?"

* * *

Roxanne strolled through the streets of Rustboro together with Velda, who seemed amazed at almost everything she sees and asked questions incessantly. "Why are the buildings here so short? The tallest building here is only 8 stories high. Are they built like that on purpose?" "Is it normal for rock type pokemon to stay immobile like that geodude over there without moving? How long do they remain like that anyway?" "How many challengers did you face every day?" "Why..."

By the time they deposited their injured pokemon at the pokemon center for treatment, Roxanne had heard at least 10 different questions and only managed to answer 3 of them. Roxanne had also secretly gave Velda the nickname of 'chatterbox' in the confines of her mind because Velda _just won't stop talking_. Velda's inquisitive nature is probably why she is so well-learned at her age. She does not mind the chattering, it is a nice change of pace. Ever since she became a gym leader, she became a highly respected figure. People tend to shy away from her because she is a _gym leader_ , and they are afraid to act naturally around her. She sometimes find herself wishing to be a normal pokemon trainer again, when everything is simpler. Wake up, study, eat, train, sleep, rinse and repeat. She crushed that thought immediately. She is a gym leader now, the leader and protector of Rustboro, and one of the Thirteen Pillars of Hoenn. She has a job to do and duties to fulfill.

Roxanne had long since gotten used to the way how people's heads turned in her direction, although there seems to be more than usual today. It's probably because Velda is by her side chattering away faster than a chatot. They do make an odd sight together. Despite being an accomplished trainer and teacher, Roxanne is known to the locals as a loner. She is good with children and they loved her, but outside of school and the gym she tends to be by herself. Walking side by side with an 11 year old child (who looks a lot more like a 9 year old given how small she is), who is unafraid of her gym leader status chattering away while Roxanne answered the child's questions is indeed a very different image compared to what the locals are used to seeing.

After depositing their pokemon at the pokemon center for treatment, they eventually found their way to Chansey's Cafe, a cafe located right beside the pokemon center. She came to this cafe regularly during her breaks. Roxanne brought Velda to her favourite spot, a table at a small corner at the back of the room. Both Roxanne and Velda had ordered a slice of cake together with tea and ate comfortably while conversing. It wasn't long before she asked the question that she had been thinking of asking Velda even before they arrived at the cafe.

"Have you ever thought of what type of trainer you wanted to be in the future? You would have to make a choice sometime around getting your fourth or fifth gym badge."

Velda continued eating her slice of cheese cake in small bites while replying, "I don't really care, to be honest." She took a sip of tea before looking at her, "I don't really care about being the strongest trainer or to be the very best that no one ever was. That is not I want in life."

Roxanne felt her eyebrows rose. "Why are you challenging the gym circuit then? No offense, but the whole purpose of challenging the gym circuit is to aim to be the strongest trainer."

"I just want to travel the world." Velda admitted, a wispy look in her eyes. "Don't you feel that the world is just so vast? There is so much the world has to offer for us. So many different places, so many cultures, so many different things to learn. So many pokemons out there to see and understand. So many things to do. I always had a weak body, you know?" Velda said, her hold on her tea cup tightening visibly. "During the time when I was 5 to 8 years old, half of my time was spent on bed rest. For someone whose dream is to explore the world, it's frickin' torture." She took another sip of tea, obviously trying very hard to calm herself. "And so, I read. Everything that I could not see or do I try to learn it from books. I would go crazy otherwise." She took another pause. "Don't let her out of the house, make sure she stays in her bed, Dr. Grimlock said. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. She's just unlucky to be born with a weak immunity system, she would probably never to be able to travel anywhere further than Petalburg with the way her body is, Dr. Northlight said." Velda spat, her voice raised in a mocking tone, and Roxanne can taste the bitterness that Velda is feeling. "Even better, there's a doctor who, I quote, 'She will be lucky if she can live past her 15th birthday'. That inconsiderate _jerk_." Velda raised a hand to wipe the wetness away from her eyes. "They didn't say this in front of me of course, they thought I was asleep. They thought they can disrespect my dream and will to live." Velda took another pause, taking in larger amounts of air. She then laughed. "Do you know that my Mum nearly had a _fit_ when I said that I plan to challenge the gym circuit. Dad was the only one in my family that did not doubt that I can, and will travel the world. That's why he gave me Flamel on my ninth birthday, so that Flamel can carry me around the world and I would not have to put too much stress on my body while travelling. Mum and Vance, my older brother by the way, just want to keep me in the house. They think that I am some kind of glass doll that would break upon contact. Almost the entirety of my childhood is spent at home or within the fence of our farm." Roxanne could only listen in silence at this point, what Velda needs now is not words of comfort or reassurance, all she needs is a listening ear. "Not like keeping me locked in the house would have worked, I would just walked out of the house and challenge the gym circuit with or without their consent. The moment we registered as a pokemon trainer at 11 years old, we are already considered as adults in the eyes of the law. I think they just realised that it would be easier for all of us if they just let me go. I love my family, I really do. But sometimes, they just dont _understand_." Velda sighed. "As for why I challenge the gym circuit, the world is still a very dangerous place, you know? Many people simply dismiss the danger lurking in the corner simply because they do not see it. Challenging the gym circuit is just a way for me to learn how to get stronger so that I can defend myself if I ever find myself in danger, and it can satisfy my desire to travel at the same time. I wanted to know more about pokemon beyond the ones in my family's farm. But I do not want to force pokemon to come with me against their will with a pokeball. I know that most pokemon will grow to love their trainer in the end, but the whole concept just feels wrong to me. Humans just don't give pokemon enough credit for their intelligence. They may not be able to speak our language, but they are smart enough to understand us. They can be reasoned. Trainers think that it's perfectly normal and within their right to be able to choose the pokemon they want, but I feel that it is equally important for the pokemon to be able to choose its trainer, because they have a right to choose as well. I know this is a stupid ideology to follow since I plan to compete in the Ever Grande Conference, and it's also why I only have 2 pokemon with me now." She then smirked. "My brother called me crazy when I told him that I plan to challenge your gym with only 2 pokemon, even made a bet of 1,000 pokedollars that I would get destroyed by you. But yeah, that's why I said I don't know, and frankly I don't care about the type of trainer that I would be in the future. It does not matter to me in the long run, since all I want is to travel." Velda's voice had quietened down to a whisper towards the end. "Sorry about that outburst, it's just...there's no one that I could speak to about this at home. I'm truly sorry for my...loss of control." Velda said before giving a short bow of her head as a show of apology.

"There's no need to apologise. In fact, I should be the one who apologise for my insensitive question." Roxanne replied calmly. "I won't say I can fully understand your plight, because I can't. I never had a sick body so I would never understand. But I do understand the hurt you feel from the lack of support of your family, especially when it comes to your dream and when you needed support the most. In my clan, being a pokemon trainer is heavily frowned upon. I'm the only pokemon trainer in my clan for more than 5 generations. It's not easy trying to achieve your dream when it felt like the whole world is against you. I experienced it, and I hate it that you felt this way as well." Roxanne whispered. "I would not say that I am sorry for your plight, because I don't think that's what you need." She took the receipt she received from the cashier that was lying by the side of her teacup, and used a pen that she always bring around with her to scribble down her personal contact number on the back of it before passing it to Velda. "What I _can_ do, is to provide advice if you ever need it. Just give me a call. It does not have to be pokemon related. I may not always be available, but I will try to reply asap." She placed both her elbows on the table, leaning forward while resting her chin on the back of her hands. "I initially wanted to see if you ever wanted to be a Rock Specialist, or if you wanted to be my apprentice. But now that I know what your dream is, I won't press on the issue. I just want to let you know that if you ever change your mind and decide to pursue a career further as a pokemon trainer, the doors to my gym are always open to you." She quickly continued before Velda can reply. "You have potential, Velda. For a moment back there, towards the end of the battle, I genuinely felt that you can be the next Steven Stone. I am being serious here. But I will respect your decision." She paused before sighing dramatically. "I really, _really_ wanted to take you on as my apprentice though."

"Wha-I mean, I.." Velda spluttered so hard that Roxanne worried that she might have broke Velda with the bombshell she landed on her. Getting an apprenticeship offer by a gym leader a few days after starting your pokemon journey would do that to you.

"Relax. The purpose of this tea session is to relax and to get to know each other better." She took her teacup and leaned back against her chair, taking a small sip of tea. "You did mention something about a bet with your brother. Do you want me to give him a call personally?" Yeah, she would take pleasure in that. She can understand his concern for his sister, but keeping her locked up at home is not an appropriate expression of love. She did not have anything against him, but if it would lift Velda's spirit or make her smile again, then he is a necessary sacrifice. She did vaguely remember that Brawly talked about a Vera who is high up in the chain of command in ACE, and a very skilled trainer. That trainer is probably her brother.

Velda looked at her with a stunned expression. A grin then stretched across her face and there is a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Better yet, do you mind if we use my xtransceiver to make a _video call_? He used to have a small crush on you when you first became gym leader. I really want to see his expression when he sees me together with you."

* * *

Vance ended the video call on his xtransceiver and skipped into the staff lounge in his office at ACE headquarters. His baby sister had just completed her first gym battle and _won_ against a gym leader.

He has no idea on how strong Roxanne is or what kind of person she is, since she only took the position after he finished his Hoenn gym circuit. He haven't had the time to do it again on the Elite trainer level of difficulty. But from how close his sister and Roxanne sat together, he can only assume that for some reason, the two of them had hit it off pretty well.

Roxanne is even prettier in the video call than the photos of her which he saw on the internet. He used to have a silly crush on her when he first saw her picture on the news, when the news reporter was announcing the changing of gym leaders in Rustboro. He knew that Roxanne is 3 years older than he is, which is not an issue for him, and can't help but wonder if she is romantically attached to another guy. He had the sudden urge to fly to Rustboro to try to woo her after the video call.

But that's not the main point.

His baby sister won against a gym leader with only 2 pokemon in her very first gym battle.

Vance is almost sure that it is a new record in the Hoenn League's history.

He plopped himself down on the sofa fiddling his fingers in the staff lounge, where several of his colleagues who are off-duty are playing a game of poker. They must have caught on to his cheery mood from the way they look at him.

"Alright. Out with it. What did your sister do this time? You are too happy." Larry, who was sitting beside him, asked.

"What makes you thing it has anything to do with my sister? Is it a crime to be happy just because I am?" Vance retorted.

"Yeah, right. You received a call on your xtransceiver, and you came back in a happy man smiling like an idiot. Besides, the only person who will call you on a regular basis is your sister. You have no social life whatsoever." Patricia, who is sitting across Larry, rebuked. "Out with it siscon, what did your sister do this time?"

"I am _not_ a siscon-"

"Hey guys, do you know that Velda managed to teach her ponyta Flamethrower? She's only 9 years old! Hey guys, do you know that my baby sister managed to befriended a herd of nidokings and nidoqueens in my family's farm? She even managed to convince them to let her play with their nidorans! Hey guys, do you know that my baby sister made me a scarf for my birthday?" Melvin, who is sitting on a couch on his right, spoke with a purposefully high-pitched nasal voice while waving his hands dramatically in the air. He stood up, and continued speaking in that annoying nasal voice, "And then you will prance around the office like this-" and Melvin went to do a silly dance around the staff lounge, causing a roar of laughter among Vance's colleagues.

"I do not _prance_ around the office like-"

"Yes, you do." his colleagues chorused, effectively shutting him up.

"I can't believe I know so many things about your sister even though I never saw her once." Patricia chimed in.

"Seriously though, _what_ did she do this time." Larry questioned.

Vance beamed, he really couldn't wait to share his joy with his colleagues.

"Hey guys." Vance said mockingly, imitating Melvin's annoying high-pitched nasal voice "Do you know that my baby sister managed to complete her very first gym challenge by defeating the gym leader? With only 2 pokemon? And that one of them is of a type disadvantage to the type specialty of that gym?"

Cue the silence.

3...2...1...

"WHAT!" was the collective reply.

There it is.

"Holy Arceus-"

"What in Groudon's name-"

"Are you serious-"

"Only _two_ pokemon? Oh my-"

The staff lounge exploded into temporary chaos, before settling back down and looked at Vance in disbelief.

Larry raised an eyebrow, "You aren't pulling our legs, are you?"

"Nope." Vance replied, popping the 'p' sound. Sometimes it is just too fun to mess with his colleagues, he should do this more often.

"Unbelievable." Maurice, who is sitting beside Patricia, muttered.

"Hey guys." Terence, who has been silent all this while, spoke up. "I suddenly feel that we should change Vance's call sign to SISCON. Are we all in agreement? I can put in a request to Wallace."

"HEY!"

* * *

Roxanne is cool, period.

Before meeting her, I thought she would be one of those nerdy type of people given how she was portrayed in the pokemon franchise in my previous life. I was once again reminded that pokemon is no longer a fictional story. It is real to me now. People will not always be what they appeared to be.

Things are different here. The most glaring and obvious difference would be that pokemon are actually capable of using more than four moves in battle. Pokemon have fantastic memory when it comes to battling and would very rarely forget moves. They just have a few preferred moves that they will use more often than the others. How can a lapras for example, forget how to use Water Gun when it can use Hydro Pump?

Eat that, Game Freak.

From my interaction with Roxanne, I found out that she is actually a very likeable person. After the heart-to-heart talk in the cafe, I actually stayed for a few days in Rustboro to help out in the Trainer's School as a volunteer. I already knew most of the knowledge that was taught there, but she still managed to teach me things that I never knew existed or thought of.

The people of Hoenn only knew that Roxanne is a gym leader and an extremely powerful trainer. They often forget that she is a teacher as well. A damn good one at that.

She caught me off guard with her offer of an apprenticeship with her, and I feel like a jerk for refusing it, even when she insists that it is a one-sided wish on her part and I have every right to refuse.

It was an offer that numerous trainers wouldn't even dare to dream of, and I turned it down.

It's official, I'm a jerk.

I was really touched when she gave me her personal number so that I can contact her if I ever need help in anything, even if it is just for a little chat. On hindsight, I realised that she is actually my first friend in the pokemon world since I am constantly stuck at home back at Petalburg. A friend with an age difference of a decade (not including my previous life) but a friend nonetheless.

I also saw an evil side to her when she suggested calling Vance. The idea was so evil that I loved it. I recorded the entire video call we had with Vance. The expression on his face is priceless. I plan to take screenshots of the various expressions he made on his face during the video call and make a set of memes when I had the time to do so. No one in Hoenn, or in the pokemon world has invented the idea of memes yet. Maybe I can be a trend-setter and introduce the pokemon world to the wonderful world of memes.

Velda Vera, the creator of memes. A worthy title for someone as awesome as me.

After earning the Stone Badge, I need to travel to Dewford, an island southwest of Hoenn. I could do this by employing the services of a psychic pokemon that knows teleport from a company that specialises in teleportation services, or travel back to Petalburg to take a ferry at the Petalburg harbour to Dewford. The journey by sea would take about a week, give or take. I can also take the opportunity to pop by my house at Petalburg to say hi to my parents.

I took the second option, teleportation services cost a bomb. I had an extra 3,000 pokedollars after my victory at the Rustboro gym, which is a lot for a novice trainer like me. 2,000 pokedollars as prize money (Roxanne has explained that the reason I earned so much is because the league rewards challengers who had managed to defeat a gym leader in battle with extra money) and 1,000 pokedollars from my bet with Vance. But I am unwilling to splurge on the teleportation services. Besides, I want to travel and see the world, taking the sea route sounds like a nice idea.

Or it would be a nice idea, if I wasn't seasick half the time I'm on the ferry. The other half of the time when I wasn't seasick was spent in boredom as I had absolutely _nothing_ to do on the ferry. The excitement and novelty of travelling across the sea wore off after the first day and the ferry offered nothing much to explore. I cannot train my pokemon on the boat, for obvious reasons, although they are allowed to roam around if they do not exceed a certain weight limit and do not cause any trouble.

I did manage to get some sort of training in, which is also my only source of entertainment, by the second day of my journey at sea. Bigblue and Flamel will sit at the back of the ferry with me and have target practice at the flock of wingulls flying overhead (there are so many of them that I'm surprised that the sky isn't raining with bird shits). I had them tone down their power, as I do not want to hurt the wingulls anymore than strictly necessary. Their Water Gun and Ember attack is only enough to knock them off balance for a short while.

Mr Briney, the captain of the ferry, is not amused when we mistook Peeko for a wild wingull and use him for target practice. Personally, I feel that Peeko is the perfect target practice as it is the only wingull that actually managed to evade Bigblue's and Flamel's attack for a short while, which is actually pretty impressive since Peeko is not a pokemon used for battling.

Mr Briney also have a gyarados named Flappy (Really? Why would you name a gyarados Flappy?) that swims alongside our ferry during the week that we were at sea. Flappy keeps the wild tentacool and tentacruel population away from our boat and is the main reason why we had such a smooth journey.

I reached Dewford sometime before noon after a long and arduous of 7 days at sea. Judging from the way the other passengers disembarked the moment we docked, I am not the only one who had found the journey torturous.

* * *

The atmosphere at Dewford can only be described as relaxing. I can lie down at the beach all day, enjoy hearing the seawater crashing onto the beach, enjoy the nice ocean breeze and enjoy the sunlight on my skin. There's nothing as therapeutic as this.

Judging by the way Flamel and Bigblue curl up around me, they felt the same way too.

Alas, no matter how nice the beach is, I cannot lie here forever.

"Come on guys. We need to book a room at the pokemon center before it's too late. We need to get something for lunch too." I stood up, brushing the fine, white sand away from my clothes. Flamel gave a little whine, and Bigblue grumbled a little, but they stood up and followed me anyway.

After booking a room and having a quick lunch, I began exploring Dewford, while keeping an eye out for areas that I can possibly use for training my pokemon. The whole town exudes a kind of lazy atmosphere that will slowly draw you in. Like Slateport city and Pacifidlog Town, Dewford town is known for its fishery due to their close proximity to the sea.

What makes Dewford stand out from the rest of the cities and towns in Hoenn, is that Dewford is where the only prison in Hoenn is situated.

The Dewford prison is located a few kilometers behind Granite Cave, far away from the town populace, and is under one of the most heavily guarded facilities in Hoenn. Something which is absolutely necessary given that some of the inmates are very dangerous and notorious criminals. It is under the jurisdiction of the LSDF and the Dewford gym. The current Dewford gym leader is Brawly, a Fighting Specialist, who is said to have once trained alongside Bruno of the Indigo Elite Four.

It is kind of scary, since there are many rumours claiming that Bruno can do superhuman stuffs like breaking rocks with his fist. Makes you wonder just what kind of training Brawly had to endure.

Glancing at Bigblue and Flamel, I bring my thoughts back to our gym challenge at Rustboro. We are actually lucky to be able to defeat Roxanne's nosepass. I have no delusions that we can beat Brawly as of now. I only managed to win against Roxanne mostly because Bigblue had the type advantage. We need to get stronger, and there is one goal in mind that I have to achieve during my stay in Dewford, if we want to win against Brawly.

I need Bigblue to evolve into a marshtomp.

Bigblue is going to be my heavy-hitter and tank, considering his evolutionary line. He needs to grow into that role, the sooner the better. Being fast and nimble would not help if he does not have the power to take his foe down. Not like I expect him to be fast and nimble when he evolves. He is just not built for it. I need to start training him in how to properly defend himself, and to increase the power behind his attacks.

While my focus would be on Bigblue, it does not mean that I would be neglecting Flamel's training. It's just that Flamel would naturally take a longer time to accumulate the required energy and power required to evolve. By my estimation, Flamel would evolve into a rapidash before we challenge our fifth gym, probably somewhere between our third and fourth gym. For now, I will need him to continue his speed and evasion training, brush him up on his physical attacks in the event his fire attacks does not work for whatever reason, and to train him to increase the intensity of his flames.

Hmm, that clearing over there seems like a good spot to train. Time to get to work.

* * *

Unfortunately, I didn't get to explore Granite Cave as it was closed off to the public for an indeterminate period of time due to a recent rock slide.

It was 8 o'clock in the evening by the time we got back to Dewford pokemon center after training. I recalled my pokemon back to their pokeballs, handed them over to the nurses for a quick medical check up, took a quick bath in my room located on the second floor, and rushed back down to collect my pokemon.

"Oh Ms Vera, there you are!" A nurse in her forties called out to me. "Your pokemon is ready for collection." I walked briskly towards the counter, eager to have my companions back with me.

I was at the counter where the nurse was, hands stretched out and ready to collect my pokemon. All of a sudden, a small figure in gray with large eyes that comprises of light-blue sclera, dark-blue iris and eerie yellow pupils burst out from behind the counter. It landed right in front of my face just when I was about to touch Flamel's and Bigblue's pokeballs and gave a ear-splitting scream.

I fell on my ass and gave an even bigger scream.

The commotion successfully attracted all the occupants in the pokemon center on the first floor, but to my surprise, all they did was to roar with laughter.

"You are the 12th victim this week, kiddo." A middle-aged, balding man with a protruding belly called out from across the room from where he was sitting. "Don't worry, it is harmless, it just loves a good prank every now and then. If it makes you feel better, most of us here in this room were his victims at one point. Jacob here," he pointed to a skinny, lanky man to his right with his right thumb, "actually threw a vase at the little prankster over there. He was its first victim."

The occupants of the room continued to roar with laughter. Most of them are Dewford locals, I realised. I turned back to the source of the commotion and found the culprit, who had lowered itself down onto the floor beside me and it sniggered.

A shuppet. That 'little prankster' that the middle-aged man was referring to is a shuppet.

"The prank is actually pretty good." I said dryly, eyeing the shuppet with amusement. "If the victim of the prank isn't me, it would be better."

Shuppet began laughing uncontrollably in its hollow, ghostly laugh, and began flying loop de loops around me in excitement.

"I'm so sorry about shuppet." The nurse, who was behind the counter, had made her way to me and began to help me up. "Shuppet here just appeared out of nowhere 3 months ago. She loves being here for some reason and no one here has the heart to drive her away." She crossed her arms around her chest and sighed. "We kept her around because she does not cause any trouble apart from the occasional pranks every now and then. You do not have to worry about her bothering you in your room. We made it very clear that the occupants on the second floor are out-of-bounds."

By now, shuppet is hovering around me in curiosity, observing me with her big eyes (the nurse had said that shuppet's a female) and made some sort of clicking noise.

Me being me, I did the immature thing and tried to imitate the clicking noise shuppet is making.

Shuppet gave another hoot of laughter and proceeded to snuggle up in my chest. I hesitantly placed my right hand on the back of her head, and began to stroke it slowly.

Holy molly, I had read before that ghost-type pokemon can make themselves solid if they wished it, but this is the first time I had experienced it in person. Most ghost pokemon will just phase through your hand. Shuppet's skin? (what do you even call it?) feels good to the touch. It is like touching smooth, cold silk. I found myself enjoying stroking and petting her head.

"This is a first." The nurse stated, eyes wide. "Shuppet has never allowed herself to be touched before, not even by the nurses here." Shuppet replied with a gurgle, and I found myself to be at the centre of attention once again.

"I think shuppet just needs someone to play with her. She seems lonely." I stated, stroking her head absentmindedly. An idea flashed through my mind, and before I could think through it and weigh the pros and cons of the idea, the words have already left my mouth.

"Hey shuppet." Shuppet looked up at me. Crap. I'm not sure if this is a good idea considering this is a wild ghost type pokemon I am dealing with. "Do you want to come with me? I am currently challenging the gym circuit, and I will be competing in the Ever Grande Conference some time in the future. But my goal isn't trying to be the strongest trainer around, though I would want both my team and I to be capable of defending ourselves." I paused for a short while, trying to think of the correct words to say. "You don't need to battle if you don't want to, although I would appreciate it if you can help out a little every now and then in our gym circuit. I only have two companions with me now, and I really need more companions to help us out." Shuppet is still listening attentively. That is a good sign. "My dream is to travel the world. After completing the Hoenn gym circuit, I plan to explore the other regions as well. We can go see the world together." I gulped. "However, if you join me, and do not mind battling for me, I would have to enlist your help in the Dewford gym battle that I am planning to challenge soon, and possibly for other gyms as well. And there are places and people that you will not be allowed to pull your pranks on." Shuppet gave a sad whine. "No, really. I don't mind the occasional pranks. But there is a time and place for everything. You should know by now that there are consequences for every action. I cannot protect you from everything. If you pulled your prank on someone or something that we do not have the strength to defend ourselves from, we are screwed. I am not perfect, and the only thing I can promise you is that I will try to be the best trainer that I can be for you. After knowing all these, do you still want to travel with me?"

Shuppet floated away from my touch, and gave me a long, hard look of consideration. After what seemed like an eternity, she gave a hoot and hovered around me at my waist level. She used her head to bump against the release button of one of my empty pokeballs attached to the belt around my waist and allowed herself to be sucked into the pokeball.

I caught my first wild pokemon.

* * *

 **AN: I have always shipped Roxanne and Brawly ever since I read the Hoenn arc in the _Pokemon Adventures_ manga due to their interactions with each other and also due to the fact that they have very different personalities. But yet when you bring them together, I feel that they actually complement each other pretty well. Their relationship with each other in this story is just to fulfill a small childhood fantasy of mine. On an unrelated note, half of my chapters so far were typed on my phone and it is slow and exhausting. Too many grammatical errors and I am unsure if I had managed to correct them all on my laptop. **

**Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, reincarnated soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Mudkip (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Shuppet, no nickname yet, female**


	4. Chapter 4- Dolly

Shuppet's very first memory was the fog. Sometimes it would be light enough for sunlight to pass through and other times it can be dense enough to make the day as dark as the night. But it is always there, a constant presence that she is comfortable with.

She lived in the fog with her brothers and sisters. The fog offered them protection from humans and other creatures (which she will know much later that those creatures, are called pokemon, similar to her). She grew up in the fog, playing with her fellow siblings, unaware that there is a world out there that is much, much bigger than the world she knew within the fog.

The first turning point in her life came when an elderly one-eyed ghost decided to live the rest of his life here in the fog like many other ghost types in the area. She, together with her siblings, were naturally curious of a fellow ghost who came from outside the fog, and would constantly seek him out to hear his stories.

The one-eyed ghost is a friendly and patient ghost, who didn't mind the noise and chaos that she and her siblings made, unlike some of their neighbours. He told them that he used to be from the fog as well, and left the fog with a human when he was very, very young.

That got their attention.

He told them of a vast world outside the fog, that the fog is a part of a mountain that they are currently living in. He told them the mountain is nothing but a small part of land in a region that the mountain is situated in. He told them that apart from this region, which the humans refer to as the "Hoenn" region, there are many other regions that are different, each unique in its own way. He himself has been to three other regions with the human, which he fondly refer to as his trainer and master. The ghost was part of a pokemon team, a team which is like a family to him. He mentioned that his master had given him a name, but he would never tell them what it is as he will only ever allow his deceased master to address him as such. He told them that humans had given names to them as a whole to name their species, and that she and her siblings are known to the humans as a species called "shuppet".

The elderly ghost enjoyed telling tales of his adventure, and each one is more exciting than the last. And when their adventure finally ended, they settled down in a human town not far away from the fog where he once came from.

Many moons passed and the ghost lived comfortably with his master. His master had built a family of his own, and they also loved and welcomed the elderly ghost as part of their family. However, all good things have to come to an end. Unlike him, his master, who is a human, have a much shorter lifespan. He witnessed how his master wilted away from old age, and it pained his heart. He tried to help to make his master's life easier and more bearable, but he can only do so much as a pokemon.

He was at his master's side up till the very end when he finally passed away in his sleep.

After the death of his master, the one-eyed ghost left the place which his master had called home, together with some of the surviving members of his master's pokemon team. Some of them stayed behind. His master's kin were sad to see them leave, but they understood that they cannot bear to continue living in a place filled with so many memories of their beloved master. After leaving his master's home, he and the other pokemon who left with him went their separate ways. He made his way back here to the fog, his time with his master had taught him enough on how to navigate through foreign land.

The elderly ghost told them tales and stories of their adventures. He told them stories of mountains that spit fire. He told them of human settlements that built structures so tall that they seem to touch the sky. He told them how green the grass outside the fog is, and how vast the oceans are.

Shuppet found herself wanting more and more to go on an adventure. Her siblings were interested in the stories, but none of them were too keen to go outside the fog.

The day came when there was an abrupt change to her life. She was resting in a small cave situated near the bottom of the mountain, just at the edge of the fog. It was her favourite getaway when her siblings' chattering were too much, even for her.

She did not expect a human to suddenly walk in and threw a contraption at her, sucking her in. She found out later that the contraption is called a pokeball, used for catching pokemon like her.

When her new trainer finally let her out of her pokeball, she found that she is out of the fog. She is scared, for she had never ventured out of the fog before. But she is also equally excited, for she can finally go for an adventure of her own. Her new trainer explained to her that she is part of his team now and that he would need her to compete in something called a gym circuit. She didn't really understand what a gym circuit is at first, but she did understand that her new trainer would need her to battle under his command. She didn't mind battling, she is no stranger to it. She had to battle regularly alongside her siblings for territory back at the fog and she enjoyed the thrill of the battles.

It did not take long for her to realise that her trainer is from a foreign region. None of the other pokemon of his team were from Hoenn. The elderly ghost had gave them a very avid description of what type and kind of pokemons that she and her siblings can realistically expect to see in the Hoenn region. None of her trainer's pokemon team fit any of the descriptions from the elderly ghost.

The very next day, she was thrust into the most grueling experience of her life, which her trainer referred to as "training". She knew that it was to let her grow stronger, and she didn't want to disappoint her trainer. She gritted her teeth and pushed through it, pushing herself past her limit and into exhaustion every single day.

Her experience with her new companions is very different from the one the elderly ghost had mentioned. For instance, it didn't feel like family, unlike what the elderly ghost said. None of them would give her the time of day and she had often had to spend her meager free time in loneliness, something which she is unused to. She missed the companionship of her siblings back at the fog. Her trainer also didn't give her a name, something which she was looking forward to, unlike what the elderly ghost's deceased master did for him, although the rest of her trainer's pokemon team had a name to call their own.

Her trainer also had unrealistic expectations of her. He would ask one of his other pokemon to show her a move not of her element, and expect her to learn it by the end of the day. _How_ in Arceus's name is she supposed to do that? She is a ghost for goodness' sake. It is just not possible for her to learn the same move, that is not of her element, in just a day. But she kept her complaints to herself, and still tried her very best.

But her very best is just not enough, not for her trainer.

He would throw her into battles that are far out of her league and she would get crushed by her opposition every single time. He will ask her to storm her way through battles like the rest of his pokemon team. She is just not built for it. Her strength does not lie in power, at least, not for the time being. Her strength lies in trickery and deceit. It lies in the element of surprise she can bring forth to her opponents. She does not have enough raw power to meet her trainer's expectations yet, and would not have enough power for a long, long time until she gathers enough power within her to evolve. Something that would take more than a few moon cycles to achieve.

Her lackluster performance in both training and battles led to her trainer getting more and more disappointed and frustrated in her every passing day. She, on the other hand, got angrier. Her trainer just do not _understand_ that she is different from the rest of his team, where none of them are ghosts like her. Her trainer does not understand that whatever might have worked for them might not necessarily apply to her. Yes, she did manage to learn a few tricks and moves. But most of it is due to her own hard work and less on her trainer's guidance. Her trainer does not know how to handle her.

Her trainer is not fit to be her trainer.

The vicious cycle of disappointment and anger continued, and it puts a heavy strain on their relationship. She would no longer take commands from him in battle, although she still takes part in their training. Her trainer had tried to talk to her to get her to understand things from _his_ point of view. Her trainer's pokemon would give her the stink eye for dragging down their team's progress, and told her that she should just shut up and follow their lead.

None of them thought about what _she_ thinks.

She didn't know how many more moons have passed. Her trainer arrived on an island one fine day and let her out. He told her that he cannot do this anymore, and she is free to go. He turned his back on her and left her floating there, mouth widened in shock.

Her trainer abandoned her.

She felt a mixture of relief and anger. She is relieved that she does not have to put up with him any longer. She felt anger because her trainer left her, just like that, in a foreign land and didn't even had the courtesy to at least bring her back to the fog where he snatched her from.

She did not know how to navigate back to the fog. She was kept mostly in her pokeball when her trainer is travelling. She could not leave the island, the winds outside the island were too strong for her to fly through it safely.

She is stuck on the island her trainer had left her in.

She found a humongous cave at the edge of the island. She is glad that there are ghosts like her who reside there. They are not overly friendly, and they are also part of the void, a typing and energy that ghosts disliked and hated. How these ghosts can stand being part ghost and part void she would never understand. But at least these ghosts are cordial enough to have a pleasant conversation with.

There are also other residents in the caves. The flying bats and rock munching creatures left her mostly to her own devices and basically ignored her.

The stupid human-like creatures, which she found out much later that the humans refer to as "makuhita", were just downright _rude_.

The cave is just not suitable for her to live in. So she set her sights elsewhere.

There is a building not far from where the cave is, and she can sense the huge amounts of negative emotions rolling off in waves from the building. As a shuppet, who feeds from negative energy, the place there is a literal food paradise for her. But then she remembered what the elderly ghost used to say, that if something is too good to be true, it is usually too good to be true. And so she resisted the temptation to go to the building.

Not like she could go there anyway. She later found out that the building is being guarded by both humans and pokemons alike, and all of the pokemon there is way stronger than her. She also found out from the local pokemon that the building is for containing humans who did bad, bad things to both humans and pokemon.

That would explain the huge amount of negative energy she felt.

She traveled to a human town nearby, where she spent a few days wandering and observing from the shadows. She needs a place to stay. And so she stayed in the shadows and observe. She is patient. After some observation, a building in the middle of the town caught her attention. It is a building where many humans and their pokemons visit on a daily basis. It looks like a good place to stay for her, maybe they will welcome her.

Her appearance in the building was a shock to the occupants. Apparently, she is the only one of her kind here. But the human-healers there were nice enough to let her stay there and provide her with food. There are some rules that she have to follow if she wanted to stay there. She does not mind. As long as there is food and shelter, she can make do with it. They even allow her to have her own fun there with her pranks, as long as it does not cause any trouble for the humans.

The large number of people who entered and exit the building everyday means that there would not be a boring day. She has been craving companionship ever since she left the fog, and the people she met in the building filled a little of the gaping hole that her previous trainer had left in her heart. The pranks she pulled (she made sure that they were harmless) filled her with a little joy that was missing since many moons ago. Life was not perfect, but it got a little better.

There were human trainers who attempted to catch her with that blasted contraption called the pokeball. _Again_. She was determined to not make the same mistake. Every single time a human tried to catch her she would wreck havoc and prank them so hard that they never appeared in the building again, much to the exasperation of the human-healers.

The local humans seem to enjoy the prank, there are some who even encouraged her.

The next turning point in her life came again when a young human trainer strolled through the doors of the building. She is definitely not from the island, for shuppet had committed the faces of the locals who visited the building regularly into her memory. The human was also tainted with the aura of death and chaos, which puzzled her to no end. She is sure that the human is very much alive, yet she feels so much like death. As those thoughts ran through her mind, the human trainer had deposited her pokeballs with the human-healers and disappeared into the restricted section of the building on the second floor.

Shuppet began to plan her next prank.

It was a very basic and easy prank. She knows by now that human trainers tend to collect their pokeballs from the human-healers at a specific spot within the building. Thus, when the death-tainted human trainer reappeared after some time to collect her pokeballs, she executed her prank.

The reaction of the death-tainted human was hilarious, and shuppet can't help but congratulate herself for a job well done.

Even better, the death-tainted human actually complimented on her prank.

Not a single human had complimented on her prank before when they were on the receiving end on it.

She chattered to the death-tainted human trying to communicate her thanks. She didn't expect the trainer to try and chatter back at her with a poor imitation of her language. Not like the human succeeded, but it is the thought that counts.

Shuppet decided there and then that she liked this death-tainted human and went up to snuggle with her. The aura around her felt so _soothing_ and _comfortable_ despite the taint of death (she did not mind the taint), and she does not mind if she stayed that way forever.

The death-tainted human recognised at once that she felt lonely, which surprised her. Was it that obvious? She had thought that she had hidden it pretty well.

What she did not expect, is that the death-tainted human _asked_ her if she would like to come with her. For the first time in her life, there is someone who cares about her opinion.

The death-tainted human now had her full and undivided attention.

The death-tainted human explained to her that she too, is challenging the gym circuit (why are all human trainers obsessed with that?). What surprised her is that the death-tainted human does not require her to battle if she does not wish to. Well, that is not happening, shuppet loves her pranks but she loves the occassional battles even more. She said that she only had two other pokemons with her, which is a little surprising, since most trainers have at least six of them. She told her that her dream is to travel the world and the other regions and invited _her_ to join her on the journey as well.

The death-tainted human shared the same dream as her.

The death-tainted trainer is also one of the most honest human she met. She does not sugarcoat her words. She explained clearly what is expected of her should she decide to join her on her journey. She explained that while she appreciates a good prank, she cannot pull them willy-nilly without a care in the world. Shuppet can understand her reasoning. It's not like she particularly enjoyed doing it. She is just bored and needed a good laugh while finding something to pass the time.

The death-tainted trainer does not attempt to make empty promises. She told her that she is not perfect (perfect is overrated anyways, in shuppet's opinion) and that the only promise she can give her is to try and be the best trainer for her.

That promise alone is good enough for her.

Shuppet floated away from the death-tainted trainer and thought about her offer really hard. She never cared for being the strongest ghost around or other materialistic wants. All she ever wanted is companionship with a bit of adventure. The fact that the death-tainted trainer shared the same dream as her is an added bonus.

Besides, the aura of the death-tainted trainer felt really, really comfortable.

She can also finally leave this island.

And so, after barking out a shout of approval she approached the pokeballs on the death-tainted trainer's belt. She can feel which ones are empty and which ones are not simply by feeling the emotions emitting from two of the pokeballs. She chose the empty pokeball she preferred most and took a short look at it.

She suddenly found herself not resenting the pokeball as much as she used to.

And so, with a quick bump of her head, she allowed herself to get sucked into the pokeball.

Her previous adventure was a bust, but she look forward to her next great adventure.

And the promise of occasional pranks from her new trainer, that is important too.

* * *

Shuppet found herself in a room with her new trainer when she was released from her pokeball.

She quickly realised that only a short time had passed, and the room she is in belongs to the restricted section of the building on the second floor. She only came here once before, and she knew that it has the space to accommodate four humans and several small pokemon. Currently, her trainer is the only occupant of the room.

Her trainer is sitting on a bed, waiting for shuppet to finish taking in the sights of her new surrounding.

Why humans have to sleep on something like beds, shuppet will never understand.

Shuppet floated closer to her trainer, who had began to talk softly to her. The most important information she learned in the conversation is that the name of her new trainer is called "Velda".

She will commit that name to memory for the rest of her (immortal) life.

She introduced her to the other pokemons on her team. A four-legged fish and a fire-horse. After a short introduction by Velda, the two greeted her enthusiastically and she returned the greeting happily. They seemed friendly, and shuppet cannot wait to know more about them.

It was late at night, and Velda and her two other new friends were tired. The four-legged fish jumped onto the bed with her trainer and curled up on one side of the bed while the fire-horse just lay down on the floor at the side of Velda's bed.

Despite her exhaustion, Velda is adamant on choosing a name for shuppet before sleeping. And shuppet is very, very excited at the thought of finally having her own name.

She even allowed - _wanted_ \- shuppet to choose her own name.

They spent a long time deciding on her name. While all of them are good, none of them felt _right_.

It wasn't until Velda suggested the name of Dolly, since shuppet _did_ look like some sort of doll that the young humans like to play with, especially so when she evolve in the future. She also showed shuppet a picture of her evolved form using some sort of device. She finally saw for the first time, what she _could_ be. A banette.

Shuppet decided that she liked to be called Dolly.

Training the next day was a nervous affair for Dolly, considering her past experience. Velda obviously had little experience in training ghosts as well, but she tried to make training plans that is best suited for her.

Dolly didn't have that privilege from her previous trainer.

Unlike her previous trainer, Velda taught Dolly how to use her powers according to her strength, much to Dolly's delight. She ducked and weaved through attacks and hide in the shadows during the mock battle with the four-legged fish and the fire-horse. She won and lost some of their battles, her new pokemon friends are no slouches themselves. But Dolly did not have so much fun in a long time and so she did not mind at all.

She also participated in trainer battles with Velda on the island. She used her trickery and deceit to confuse and bring down her opponents with Velda's guidance.

She won her first ever trainer battle together with Velda. It is not an easy battle, but they won. They also won the next battle, and the one after that, and more. She lost a few of them, but it was all in good fun so she did not mind. She tried her best and both Velda and Dolly know it. Velda did not blame Dolly for their loss, and only encouraged her to do better while pointing out several stuffs that she could do better in in their next battle.

All of these are a new experience to Dolly.

Dolly did not know how many days had passed when Velda decided that they are ready enough to try and take on the Dewford gym. Time does not really matter to an immortal ghost like her. The four-legged fish had successfully evolved into a two-legged fish with hand-like flippers quite some time back and could not stop gushing over its new body. The fire-horse just snorted and pointedly ignored the two-legged fish.

They walked together out of the building where she first met Velda, and slowly made their way over to the gym, a building that she had always been afraid to explore before she became Dolly due to the number of strong pokemon there. They won't scare her now, not this time. She had Velda on her side now. Simply for the companionship that Velda gave her, a companionship that Dolly had craved for so long, Dolly will be Velda's Dolly for Velda. Dolly will follow her until the end of time itself. She will battle for Velda, and they will explore the world together.

But for now, they had opponents to fight and defeat, and she planned to bring victory to Velda.

* * *

I never expected to catch my first wild pokemon by using the talk-no-jutsu, and I never thought that the first pokemon I caught would be a ghost type pokemon.

Dolly is surprisingly docile, just easily excitable, when she is not pulling pranks. She pulled a few harmless pranks on Bigblue and Flamel but they both take it in good fun.

I really love my pokemon.

We might also have started a tradition among the four of us to prank the pokemons that would join our team in the future as an initiation program.

I realised that Dolly also love hugs and cuddles, and would often cuddle up to me outside of training and battles. She was probably very lonely being the only shuppet on Dewford.

Which begs the question on how she found her way here in the first place.

In Hoenn, shuppets are mostly found on Mt Pyre, or in the area around it. Mt Pyre is situated at the other end of Hoenn from where Dewford is. The winds around the island is too strong for her to make her way to Dewford by her lonesome.

I had a sneaking suspicion on the _how_ after my first day of training with her.

Scanning Dolly with my Pokedex had revealed that Dolly have a very bizarre range of moves in her arsenal. Some of them are within the realms of possibility, like Dark Pulse, for example, although it is a pretty advanced move for a shuppet. Moves like Will-O-Wisp, which some ghost types are capable of using and learning on their own, are rare for their species but also within the realm of possibility. Most of the pokemon in the Mind Arts Trio (Ghost, Psychic and Dark) can learn moves naturally from within the Trio despite the typing difference. Still, I have no idea on how Dolly knew moves like, Thunderbolt, Charge Beam, Toxic, _Dazzling Gleam_ even (goodness, how does she learn it?) when these moves cannot be learnt by a shuppet unless they were taught specifically to her. Her usage of these moves are also rather crude, all power and no finesse. Furthermore, from her battles, I observed that Dolly moved in a calculating manner and performed maneuvers that are only seen from trained pokemon.

I am almost certain that Dolly used to belong to a trainer, and the trainer abandoned her.

It would explain a lot of things. Like how Dolly got here, and her constant need of contact with me. Her abandonment by her trainer would have hurt her enough to cause her to act that way.

I do not know who the trainer is, but I know enough to tell that he is a big jerk. Dolly is a good pokemon. Not the strongest pokemon there is, but her strength does not lie in raw power. Flamel and Bigblue can handle that part for now. Her strength lies in her trickery, the ability to sow confusion and create mayhem on the battlefield.

I can only conclude that Dolly's previous trainer really do not know how to handle ghost type pokemon. It is his loss for abandoning Dolly.

Luckily, I do have some experience with handling ghost type pokemon since I grew up with Macky. Ghost type pokemon were near impossible to breed in pokemon breeding farms, even for one as accomplished as my family's. No one have any idea on how they even come into existence, and they will simply phase through the fences of our farms. There is no point in keeping them in one place because there is nothing that can hold them except for something similar to a pokeball. The most widely supported theory of ghost pokemon, proposed by Professor Birch, is that ghost type pokemon are actually other-worldly travelers from another dimension. The supporting evidence for this is the existence of a small, temporary time-space distortion around the area when new ghost type pokemon are being born (although no one has yet to see the process). They also cannot realistically die from old age and are practically immortal unless they are killed in battle. Ghost type pokemon are also widely known to be vicious and any battle that they take part in often leads to a fight to the death in the wild, which is a reason why ghost type pokemon did not manage to overpopulate the world with their immortality since many of the weaker ghosts tend to overestimate themselves and got themselves killed in battle. The nature of ghost type pokemon is also the reason why people respect and fear trainers who managed to tame and command these other-worldly creatures. Ghost type pokemon are arguably on the same level, if not harder to tame than dragon type pokemon in certain aspects. This is why, Agatha, who is a previous member of the Indigo's Elite Four and a Ghost Master, is highly respected in the PWL and across the world.

Word has it that the bat-shit insane old hag has decided to travel to Orre after her retirement to have a holiday there.

I had asked for advice from Vance on how to train Dolly first thing in the morning on the very next day after catching her, considering his success with Macky. His advice proved to be helpful in training Dolly. I had to constantly correct some of her bad habits that she displayed in battling, and ultimately decided to tell her to put off honing the bizarre range of moves that she learnt from her previous trainer, and to focus on the ghost type techniques that she is more familiar with. She would not be able to handle and properly use those moves until she evolves into a banette anyway. I am surprised that she managed to even learn them in the first place. The only extra move that I wanted her to try and focus on is Toxic, as I have a good feeling that we may need it for our gym battle. I wanted a backup plan if it turns out to be a battle of attrition, something that I do _not_ want to face against a gym leader. I also decided to buy a reusable TM for the move Protect, and taught it to all three of my pokemon. I need them to be masters in using the move. Protect is too useful not to learn, especially when there is no stupid four move limit per pokemon in this world.

After two weeks of training, Bigblue finally evolved into a marshtomp. We spent another week training for Bigblue to familiarise himself in his new body and another extra week to go through various drills for the different scenarios that we may encounter in the gym battle. I spent a lot of time in Dewford training because we probably would not have the time when we finally leave Dewford to go to Slateport city. Most of our time then would probably be spent traveling and battling the trainers we meet along the way from Slateport to Mauville.

So I decided to get as much training in as possible to prepare ourselves not only for the Dewford gym challenge, but also for the Mauville gym challenge as well.

Like the Rustboro gym, the interior of the Dewford gym is a maze as well. The only difference is that we are trapped in the maze with minimal light. The light around us shone brighter whenever we defeated a gym trainer so that it will be easier to navigate through the maze. I stopped fighting the gym trainers after I finished pummeling the second one I encountered.

The gym trainers in Dewford are really fucking obnoxious. I could tell that Flamel had the same sentiments as me and he had a great time burning his opponents into a crisp with gusto.

I'm not sure if it is only the two gym trainers that I met that are so obnoxious, or if the entire gym is that way. But after defeating the second gym trainer (good riddance), I decided not to take my chances and just complete the maze with as little interaction with the gym trainers as possible. The way the maze is set up is to encourage challengers to find and defeat gym trainers so that they will have eventually have enough light to navigate through the maze, something that I originally planned on doing just for fun.

The joke's on them. I have Flamel who is a walking torch with his flames, and Bigblue, who has a built-in radar with his head fin. Anything that the two of them missed out, Dolly can phase through walls to check for any signs of danger without being seen. I can pick off the gym trainers one by one if I wished, or I can avoid them entirely.

Naturally, we made out of the maze unscathed. I recalled both Bigblue and Dolly just right before we exited the maze and healed Flamel with potions, who was the only one that battled thus far. I do not want to give Brawly the advantage of knowing what pokemons I planned to use, the gym challenge is hard enough as it is.

He greeted and faced me with an unreadable expression on his face and we started our battle without much fanfare after the pre-battle registration, with a maximum of three pokemon on each side.

I started off with Flamel, as planned. He had no problems taking on Brawly's machop and knocked it out with a well-placed Stomp to its head.

The meditite, however, is an annoying pain in the ass. It is really agile and hits hard. Any move that it cannot dodge will be countered with a Detect. The only thing I could do is to command Flamel to bathe the arena in flames with a combination of Fire Spin and Flamethrower. It did a bit of damage, but not enough. Meditite knocked Flamel out with a High Jump Kick to his face.

I sent out Bigblue next, who did pretty well in facing off Meditite. After evolving into a marshtomp, Bigblue gained a few more moves that were helpful in fighting Meditite. He managed to learn Rock Tomb from the TM Roxanne gave me, and also managed to learn Rock Slide on his own after seeing it in action once in a trainer battle. He turned his mastery of his rock techniques into an art form, dropping rocks accurately on where he wanted it to be while shooting off barrages of water and mud at Meditite. Bigblue, I realised, has a knack for changing the terrain to his liking. Before long, meditite is trapped in a make-shift swamp with all of his escape routes blocked off by rocks. Bigblue simply knocked him out with a blast of pressurised water with Water Gun.

If I thought meditite is a pain in the ass, it has nothing on Brawly's makuhita. Every attack Bigblue throws at him is countered with ease or simply bounce off due to its layer of fat. Even Whirlpool did not faze him. Bigblue's water and mud attacks does not have enough power yet to do damage to makuhita. This forces Bigblue to get up close and personal with makuhita, which is makuhita's domain. Bigblue did manage to get a few good shots in and also pulled off a Counter which dealt a great deal of damage to makuhita. But it was not enough for him to stop makuhita to take him out with a well-placed Force Palm.

Things ended rather anti-climatically when I sent out Dolly.

None of the attacks that makuhita knew are able to affect Dolly due to the typing advantage Dolly possess as a ghost type pokemon. The only attack that makuhita knew that can possibly damage Dolly is Knock Off, which is easily avoidable if Dolly kept her distance. Makuhita also tried to use Whirlwind to throw Dolly off-balance. Dolly simply duck into the shadows whenever Whirlwind came up and stayed out of makuhita's reach when he used Knock Off.

Dolly ended the battle with a Shadow Ball in makuhita's face.

I don't think Brawly is very happy with the fact that I used a ghost type pokemon in his gym, a pokemon type that no novice trainer usually possess, if the uncontrollable twitching at the edge of his mouth is any indication. I could probably take on all 3 of his pokemon and win with Dolly alone using the type advantage, but I wanted Bigblue and Flamel to have the experience of fighting against pokemon trained by a gym leader. The moment I saw how Bigblue fought with meditite, no matter the outcome of Bigblue's fight, I knew I would win the gym challenge, since I have Dolly on my side. It is kind of cheating to use a ghost type pokemon in a gym specialised in fighting type pokemon. But hey, life isn't fair. I didn't ask for a sickly body either and you don't see me complaining.

The "don't think Brawly is very happy with me" changed to "I'm pretty sure Brawly is not happy with me" fairly quickly when he just dumped me with the Knuckle Badge, a reusable TM containing Bulk Up, saying that the prize money would be credited to my bank account within the week, and shooed me out of his gym.

I don't care if he is bitter about the fact that I have the type advantage with Dolly. He is a gym leader. If he is narrow-minded enough to have a grudge against an eleven years old he can just go and suck it up for all I care.

Like I said, life isn't fair. Life isn't fair to me and Dolly and you don't see us complaining about it. Brawly needs to grow up. He could learn a thing or two from Roxanne on how to be gracious in defeat. I learnt a lot from Roxanne myself.

Speaking of Roxanne, I need to call her soon. I promised that I would call her the moment I earned the Knuckle Badge.

* * *

Brawly prided himself as the leader and protector of Dewford Town.

Dewford Town is situated on Dewford Island, an island located southwest of mainland Hoenn, and is also the place where the most dangerous and notorious of criminals Hoenn ever had the unfortunate chance to see are locked up. As Dewford's gym leader, it is his duty and responsibility to oversee the prison that housed these criminals, and he worked hand-in-hand with the local LSDF forces stationed at Dewford to ensure that these scums stay where they are in their rightful place in the prison.

Brawly was raised single-handedly by his mother. He never saw his father because his father was murdered by a criminal for the sake of money before he had a chance to meet him. He had every reason in the world to justify his hatred for criminals.

It was the knowledge of his father's death that he aimed to be the very best combat specialist, so that he have the power to protect his mother, himself, and his loved ones. He will not allow himself to be powerless.

And that is also why he admired his predecessor, Kent Armstrong, one of the best hand-to-hand combat specialist Hoenn has ever produced, and a Fighting Specialist.

Kent Armstrong was the one who inspired Brawly to be a Fighting Specialist, back when Brawly first received his starter, Max, a makuhita back then, from his gym. He would forever remember the moment when he first stepped into the gym, and witnessed Kent training alongside his fighting type pokemon in combat.

He was thus ecstatic when he received a fighting type pokemon as his starter, and was even happier when Kent acknowledged his strength when he returned to Dewford and earned his second gym badge from Kent.

After he ended up as the runner-up in the first Ever Grande Conference he participated, Brawly joined the LSDF. He got his wish granted and was stationed at Dewford's prison where he watched the criminals with a keen eye. He was also often called on by the LSDF to other parts of Hoenn to apprehend criminals.

His efficiency in apprehending criminals was soon recognised by the LSDF, and his tendency to knock out his targets with only one hit earned him the nickname of "K.O. Brawly" during his time there.

He rose through the ranks of LSDF quickly, but soon felt that his skills as a trainer had started to stagnate. He knew that he could breakthrough and get stronger, but he did not know how.

He realised that he needed help.

He applied for a long, unpaid leave of absence from the LSDF and journeyed to Kanto. He wanted to try and convince Elite Four Bruno, one of the most recognised Fighting Specialist in the world, to teach him.

Bruno's skills as a Fighting Specialist should have allowed him to earn the title of Fighting Master a long time ago. But for some reason, he never applied for that title despite the encouragement from his fellow Elite Four members. In an interview with the media, he cited his reasons as "Titles are superficial, I do not need titles to justify my skills. My skills as a trainer speaks for itself. Having fancy titles would just get in my way of learning the ways of combat."

Brawly could see the point Bruno is trying to drive at, and his respect for Bruno rose even higher. It is public knowledge that Bruno would not have taken the position as an Elite Four member if it wasn't for his immense respect for Lance. Lance had personally requested Bruno to aid him in protecting the ideals of the Indigo League by taking on the position of an Elite Four member.

It took 3 months for him to locate Bruno, for he is rarely present in the Indigo League. Bruno prefers to travel across both Kanto and Johto regions to help the Indigo League solve their problems, leaving the rest of his colleagues to do the office work. The rest of his time is spent in seclusion, training and honing his skills.

Brawly would not have found Bruno if not for an irate Agatha, who had just retired from the Indigo League as an Elite Four member. She found him extremely annoying when he keeps appearing at the Indigo Plateau asking for Bruno's location. She borrowed a trained psychic pokemon from the Indigo League, and promptly teleported him to Bruno's location without warning.

Brawly found Bruno at the foot of Mt Silver where he is training with his pokemon. He quickly approached Bruno and asked him to take him on as an apprentice, explaining to him that he needs help in getting past the stagnation that he is currently facing.

To his surprise, Bruno accepted his request to train him, but refused to take him on as an apprentice. When asked why, Bruno stated that in the unending road of learning the ways of combat, they are all fellow disciples.

In Bruno's opinion, there is no master in the art of combat. Hence, he did not apply to be a Fighting Master for no one could claim to be one.

Brawly's respect for Bruno grew even more.

Brawly spent the next entire year training with Bruno, learning the ways of combat. It is even more relentless, more brutal, and harsher than anything he has ever faced. He traveled with him across Kanto and Johto in uncharted and unmapped territory. They shared their secrets and experience. Brawly and his team improved in leaps and bounds under Bruno's tutelage.

After Bruno acknowledged Brawly skills as a combat and Fighting Specialist to be "passable" with a silent nod of his head, Bruno left Brawly the next day. He left Brawly with only a note stating that Brawly have his own way of combat to pursue now, a road that Bruno can no longer accompany him on.

Brawly returned to Hoenn shortly after.

He resumed his duties as a LSDF member, and spent his free time as a freelance gym trainer under Kent, who is now his friend and mentor. Life continued in this manner for another period of time, until the next big event hit Dewford.

Although Kent is only in his fifties, his health has been suffering from injuries that he had sustained when he was young. Thankfully, his life is in no immediate danger. But his body is no longer fit enough for him to fulfill his duties as a gym leader safely.

Kent is nothing but stubborn, and proclaimed that he will continue to do his job as Dewford's gym leader and protector no matter what the Hoenn League says. The Hoenn League had to forcefully order his resignation for the sake of his health, and to also submit a list of recommended trainers who he thinks are possible candidates to take over the Dewford gym.

Kent recommended only one trainer: Brawly.

Under Kent's recommendation, Brawly is put through a series of tests, interviews and pokemon battles. He passed them with flying colours. Kent then put in a request of his own to the Hoenn League, requesting permission from the Hoenn League to administer Brawly one final test of his own liking.

Kent challenged Brawly to a trainer battle, with six pokemon each. What was special about the battle is that all six pokemon from each side would be battling at the same time.

Kent and Brawly would also be fighting alongside their pokemon, in the literal sense, against each other in hand-to-hand combat at the same time.

Chaos is the only suitable word to describe their fight. Both Brawly and Kent did not have the time and energy to spare to command their pokemons as they both engage other in hand-to-hand combat. They exchanged a series of punches, kicks, blocks, jabs and fought with anything and everything they had learnt and knew.

His starter, Max, now a hariyama, was the only one left standing beside him as they stood over a beaten and battered Kent.

Brawly had surpassed his idol who had inspired him to be a Fighting Specialist.

Being a gym leader is a full-time job and he had to resign from the LSDF. He still maintain close contact with the LSDF personnel stationed at Dewford's Prison out of a sense of responsibility as a gym leader, and also partly because it was where he grew up from a boy into a man.

He met the love of his life two years later when he was called in by the Hoenn League to help assess a possible candidate to assume the position of the next gym leader of Rustboro city. He stood by the stands in the spectator's block as he spectated her battles. He saw no faults in Noel's recommendation and sent in his approval.

Roxanne is everything Brawly is not, while Brawly is the polar opposite of Roxanne. Both of them did not expect to be romantically attached to each other. There was a major change of gym leaders during that period when Brawly and Roxanne were appointed as one themselves. Brawly was the first to be appointed, shortly before Norman, an ex ACE operative who had then recently retired from ACE immediately after he married his wife. He applied for the position of gym leader of Petalburg city after his predecessor chose to retire due to old age. Two years later, Roxanne and Flannery both became gym leaders at the same date when Noel and Flannery's grandfather stepped down from their positions due to old age. Tate and Liza became gym leaders of Mossdeep city right after Roxanne and Flannery a month later.

Despite the fact that all of them are newly appointed gym leaders, Norman does not converse and interact much with the other newly appointed gym leaders. He does not interact much with anyone at all. At the time of his appointment, Norman is in his late twenties going on thirty while Brawly, Roxanne and Flannery are all around the same age in their early twenties. Tate and Liza are still just kids despite their maturity and prowess in battle. Brawly feels that Norman's lack of interaction with the other gym leaders is partly because of the age difference and also partly because Norman himself is a man of few words. Coupled with the fact that his wife is recently pregnant with their first child, he probably has too many important things to do than to make small talk with the other gym leaders.

Flannery had her grandfather to show her the ropes and to help her adjust to gym leader duties. Steven, who had just defeated Wallace back then, volunteered to help guide Tate and Liza to ease them into their positions. Steven had decided to stay in Mossdeep so that he can not only help Tate and Liza, but also because it is a lot nearer to his workplace at Ever Grande compared to his old home at Rustboro. Norman is an ex ACE operative and is more than qualified to run his gym unsupervised.

Roxanne and Brawly didn't have that luxury.

Noel and Kent were offered an office job at Ever Grande, which they accepted, and hence any help that they could give their successors were pretty limited due to geographical issues. Both Rustboro and Dewford were located at the edge of Hoenn and the other more experienced gym leaders could not possibly come down and help guide them personally. The nearest gym leader in their vicinity, Norman, is too busy between fulfilling his own duties as a gym leader and starting a family.

Brawly had already been running his gym for two years and things were starting to pick up. Roxanne often called him to ask for advice when she just joined in their ranks as a fellow gym leader. Roxanne later secretly admitted to him that she did not call Norman because she is afraid of him. According to her, he always wore a scary look on his face. Flannery is too energetic for Roxanne's taste and their conversation will always somehow derail from the main point of discussion. Calling Tate and Liza were out of the question for obvious reasons, not that she has anything against them. But if a 20 year old like Roxanne had only a vague idea on how to be a gym leader, asking Tate and Liza, who are many years younger, for advice would not have been much help. The other gym leaders are too far away geographically to be of any realistic help.

Hence, Brawly is her best candidate to ask for advice.

After many calls from Roxanne and several visits from Brawly to Rustboro gym, one thing led to another and they found themselves madly in love shortly after. It is a new experience for the both of them. They have no common interests other than their love for pokemon battles and their hobbies are completely different. They are all busy people, saddled with duties and responsibilities to their cities and it sounds like a crazy idea trying to date each other across the ocean.

Fortunately, they both share a trait of being stupidly stubborn for the things they love.

It was hard at first, trying to maintain a long-distance romantic relationship away from prying eyes, but it did not make their love for each other any less. They made an effort to call each other every night if possible and would talk about their day.

Brawly learnt new things about Roxanne everyday.

He learnt about the type of books she liked to read. He learnt why the lily flower is her favourite flower. He learnt about how passionate she is in teaching.

He also learnt that she does not give praise to anyone easily, not even to him, her boyfriend.

Thus, he feels that he is entitled to be surprised when Roxanne called him excitedly on a moonless night and told him about how a novice trainer actually defeated her with only _two_ pokemon on her team for her entire gym challenge. She practically _heaped_ praises about the novice trainer and went on and on about how impressed she is with Velda Vera and even offered to apprentice her.

Roxanne had only praised him once since they started dating, and that is for being punctual to their dates.

Brawly suddenly felt very, very jealous of this trainer named Velda Vera.

But at the same time, he can feel his blood surging and he is actually eager to face the trainer that had managed to not only complete a gym challenge, but defeated _Roxanne_ in a gym battle.

Ever since that call, he spent his time waiting and training for the arrival of Velda Vera. There had not been any worthy challengers of note recently. Sure, he gave out some of his badges, but they certainly did not impress him enough for him to give out his Bulk Up TM or for him to remember their names. He found himself looking forward to battling Roxanne's could-have-been apprentice, and envisioning the battle that they will have, their pokemon matching blows, fist for fist, slugging it out, until one remain standing.

After slightly more than a month, he found himself face to face with Velda Vera, with a ponyta at her side.

Roxanne had not told him the pokemon that Velda used in her gym challenge in Rustboro, saying that it would too much of a disadvantage for her if Brawly knew of it beforehand, which is perfectly ok with him.

Brawly's first impression of Velda is that she is _small_ , and he would have trouble believing she is at least 11 years old if not for the fact that the laws of the Hoenn League mandated that children have to be at least 11 years of age before they start their pokemon journey (Tate and Liza are a special case, but that is besides the point). She is one of the prettiest child he had ever seen, although her skin is a little too pale for his liking. Under the dim lights of his gym, her skin glowed white like the sands at Dewford's beach during nighttime under the full moon. Brawly also thought that Velda looked a little sickly, there is too little muscle in her body and that she definitely lack exercise or any form of outdoor activity. But it also could have been the lack of light in his gym playing tricks on his eyes.

The initial part of their battle did not disappoint him. It was even more exciting than he had envisioned and his blood is screaming with delight. Her ponyta is definitely well-trained and is probably her starter, after he saw how well they coordinated with each other despite a lack of communication.

The battle with her marshtomp is even more exciting. He can see how Velda managed to triumph Roxanne's nosepass when he saw how proficient marshtomp is in changing the entire environment of the arena and trapping his meditite with rock type techniques. Roxanne had a hand in this one way or another, no doubt.

Brawly was so excited that he decided to send in one of his pokemon that he usually would not use against novice trainers.

The makuhita he sent in is on the brink of evolution, almost on the level of power expected from the teams of intermediate trainers. Makuhita's natural defense together with its training in countering ranged attacks had forced marshtomp to get into a close combat battle if it ever wanted to deal significant damage to makuhita. What followed is an exhilarating battle that he had not experienced in months, and makuhita brought marshtomp down despite receiving a nasty Counter from marshtomp.

The pokemon that Velda sent out next killed off all the excitement he had felt thus far.

A shuppet. A ghost type pokemon that none of his pokemon in the novice or intermediate level is capable of taking on simply due to the type disadvantage and the lack of moves to bring it down properly. A typing disadvantage would not be a problem for any pokemon on his main team, but this battle is only on a level of novice trainers.

It might be possible to take down shuppet if machop was not taken down prior to this, his Foresight would have been very useful. Brawly had to admit that a lack of counters to ghost type pokemon in the novice level battles is an oversight of his part in designing his gym challenges. In his defense, no normal novice trainer should have the ability to capture and command a ghost type pokemon at this stage of their journey.

Velda Vera is definitely not normal considering how happy her shuppet is in following her commands.

That still brings the question of how a novice trainer came into the possession of a ghost type pokemon only about a month into her journey. Can she really command it properly? Ghost type pokemons are known to be extremely vicious and will hurt inexperienced trainers if not handled well. _And where does she even-_

Oh. The pokemon center. It _has_ to be the pokemon center.

The nurses there have informed him a few months ago that a wild shuppet have appeared in the pokemon center and made its home there. How it made its way here is a big question mark for everyone, assuming its birthplace is at Mt Pyre. They suspected it is a case of pokemon abandonment, an issue that the PWL takes very seriously, but there are no leads to follow on. Brawly had offered to personally remove the shuppet from the pokemon center if necessary, but the nurses assured him that it is a very well-mannered pokemon despite its tendency to pull harmless pranks on the locals. After being convinced that the shuppet would not be a troublemaker, Brawly left the case to the Rangers and LSDF, and filed the issue away at the back of his mind.

To his knowledge, that shuppet has thwarted every attempts of capture, which are all attempted by novice trainers (novice trainers can do pretty stupid things). Shuppet's pranks on them had made sure that they stay far away from the pokemon center, much to the local's amusement.

He did not know that it had finally been captured.

What happened next is the most one-sided battle he had ever faced. Any excitement he felt earlier had been forcefully torn away from him the moment shuppet appeared for battle. Makuhita's can only attempt to use Knock Off and _possibly_ Whirlwind (he doubted Whirlwind would be of much use).

Shuppet just simply stay out of reach throughout the battle and finally ended it with a Shadow Ball.

Brawly inwardly groaned. He had been looking forward to pit himself against Velda and crush her team. He is fine with losing if it was any other pokemon other than a pesky ghost type (he really hated facing one in battle), but to lose in such a one-sided battle simply because of a type advantage leaves a very bad taste in his mouth.

He idly noted that Velda could have simply wiped out all three of his pokemon with only a shuppet if she wished to.

And Roxanne would not stop heaping praises on her little could-have-been apprentice _again_. Brawly suddenly finds himself very, very jealous once more.

It was only after Velda walked out of his gym's doors that he realised he had been a little immature and rude in handling his defeat. He should apologise. But he had no idea where Velda went, and it is a little embarrassing for a grown man like him, who is also a gym leader, to run after a little girl to apologise to her, even if the apology is well-deserved.

Ah well, he would just have to apologise to her when he sees her again and remind himself to not make this mistake again.

He got a violent surprise when he got a call from Roxanne right after he closed his gym that day in the evening.

"Brawly Bluewave! Explain yourself!"

"Wha-Roxanne? What did I do this time?" Brawly stuttered, pulling his phone away from his ear from Roxanne's booming voice. He did a quick mental check. Roxanne's birthday had passed, and their anniversary is not due anytime soon. Just what did he miss? Did they schedule a date that he had somehow forgotten? Was it _today_?

"You had the _nerve_ to ask me what happened?! Your treatment in handling your defeat to Velda is _what_ happened, you moron! What you did is _extremely_ _rude_!"

Oh crap. How did she find this out even before he managed to gently break the news to Roxanne? Did Velda somehow have Roxanne's number? It seemed like the most likely explanation.

Arceus, if Roxanne knows, it means that his mother would know of this soon given how close the two of them are. His mother would definitely chew him out the moment she hears about this.

Roxanne even used the word "moron". His sweet, always polite Roxanne used the word "moron". Just how angry is Roxanne now? Arceus save him.

"I know you are not usually like this, Brawly." Roxanne's voice had lowered back to her normal volume, "I know you are better than this. That's why I am giving you _one_ chance to explain yourself and I want you to be perfectly honest with me. Explain _now_."

"I-I'm just jealous, ok?" Brawly admitted, swiftly running his fingers through his hair. "Hear me out first." He cut Roxanne off before she could say anything. He took a deep breath, before continuing. "You know how much I look forward to exciting battles, and that I can get carried away. After what I heard from you about Velda for one entire month, I was just really, really excited. But you also keep giving praises about Velda non-stop for one month and I just got jealous that I only got a single compliment from my girlfriend ever since we started dating. I know it's immature of me, but I just can't help it, you know? She defeated me fair and square with a _ghost_ type, and you know how much I hate facing one of those. I think I just got even more jealous that you will start praising her _again_ and at that point in time, I just can't help feeling extremely jealous that some child managed to get my girlfriend's attention so easily and so I...acted inappropriately." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Roxanne, I really am."

There was a short silence on the other end of the line before he heard Roxanne's voice again. "No, I should apologise. I had no idea you felt this way, Brawly. I'm sorry that I neglected you."

"No, it's my fault. I'm a grown man and a gym leader, we have a reputation and image to uphold. What I did can possibly destroy our people's faith in us. No matter what, I should not have acted out against a child. I wanted to apologise to her the moment I cooled down, trust me, I really did. But I have no idea where she went." He paused. "To be honest, it is a little embarrassing to chase after a child like that, even if the apology is well-deserved." He gave another short pause. "I'm sorry, Roxanne, will you forgive me?"

"I do. I'm sorry too, Brawly, will you forgive me as well?"

"You have nothing to apologise for. But if it makes you feel better, yea, you are forgiven."

"You never fail to admit your mistakes, I've always liked that about you."

"Oh? Is that a compliment I hear?" Brawly teased, the edge of his mouth turning up into a small smile.

"Take it or leave it, Mr I-want-to-fight-everything-with-my-fists." Roxanne retorted. "Tell you what, I will send Velda's number over and you will apologise to her personally over the phone later. She is a reasonable person so it shouldn't be an issue." There was a short silence before Roxanne continued. "How did the battle go anyway?"

"It was a 3 on 3 battle. She took out my machop easily with her ponyta. It's very well trained. But her marshtomp is really impressive. I'm guessing she used it to earn your Stone Badge?" He heard a confirmation on the other side of the phone."I'm not sure what her marshtomp- or was it a mudkip at that time? - did in her gym battle against you, but it changed the entire area into a swamp and trapped meditite with a clever application of rock type attacks. Meditite didn't stand a chance after that. I saw her records when we were doing the pre-battle registration. Only slightly more than a month in her journey and she already earned two badges, and she did it by defeating both of us. She could possibly beat the circuit within a year if she keeps going at the rate she is at now."

"That's what I told her as well. At the moment when her mudkip delivered the finishing blow to my nosepass, I thought I was seeing the next Steven Stone."

"I still think that it is a low move to use a ghost type against me. None of my pokemon at the novice or intermediate level is properly trained to fight against a ghost type. On hindsight, it is probably an oversight that I have to fix later. I certainly did not expect novice trainers to be able to capture, much less properly command a ghost type in battle."

"It probably runs in her family. I remember Velda mentioning that her brother's starter is a gastly, although I feel that her brother is a unique case since he befriended it when the gastly is still very young. That brings me to the point I have been wanting to ask you, why is there a wild shuppet in Dewford? I can understand if she managed to catch a sableye in Granite Cave, but a shuppet? This is highly unusual."

Brawly's voice turned serious and his gaze sharpened. "I only knew about the shuppet a few months ago, it was staying at the pokemon center. I wanted to capture it and hand it over to the Hoenn League to deal with the shuppet, but the nurses convinced me that it is basically harmless unless you attempt to capture it. The shuppet pull pranks on people occasionally but did not cause any form of trouble. So I submitted this case up to both the Rangers and LSDF for investigation and left it alone. We think it is a case of pokemon abandonment, but we do not have any leads to follow up on."

The line on Roxanne's end remained silent, and Brawly thinks Roxanne is probably reeling in from shock from a possible case of pokemon abandonment. Situations of pokemon being released due to the death of their trainer aside, cases of pokemon abandonment are treated very seriously by the PWL. There are regulations in place on how to properly release pokemon back into the wild. Most of the time though, trainers usually traded pokemon that they did not wish to keep among themselves instead of releasing them into the wild. Improper release of pokemon can often cause major disruption to the ecosystem in the area where it is being released. A pokemon which is released into an environment not suited for it can possibly take out its fear and stress of being in an unknown environment by destroying the immediate vicinity. It is even more dangerous if there are human cities nearby. It would be highly inappropriate, for example, to release a fully-grown charizard from Kanto into Littleroot town. Most likely, the charizard will simply raze the town to make its nest there due to a lack of natural predators or competition. That is why cases of improper release or pokemon abandonment are taken very seriously. Brawly had no idea why shuppet's previous trainer thought that it would be a good idea to release a _ghost_ type pokemon near a human town. There is a damn good reason why humans in the early ages built their homes far away from congregations of ghost type pokemon. Even for towns and cities known to house ghost type pokemon, they have built a building specifically to house them. Just look at the Pokemon Tower situated at Lavender town in Kanto, or Ecruteak city's Burned Tower.

Dewford town is extremely lucky that shuppet is a very tame ghost type pokemon. If it was any other ghost type pokemon, he would not be surprised if the ghost decided to kill the townsfolks in their sleep in a fit of rage and stress.

"I will see what I can dig up on my end. Abandoning pokemon, especially a ghost type, is simply a very bad idea."

"My thoughts exactly." Brawly grumbled. "Thankfully, that shuppet seems happy with Velda. We may need to keep an eye out on her just in case, but I don't think Velda has any problems in handling shuppet from what I see in our battles. That little ghost adores her."

They continued talking for a while before hanging up. As previously discussed, Brawly received Velda's number from Roxanne shortly after the call with a short, but sweet _'I love you'_ text message attached to it, reminding Brawly that everything is fine between the two of them.

Brawly picked up his phone again and keyed in Velda's number, he have another call to make.

* * *

 **AN: I have always wanted to write from a pokemon's pov, and I wrote it from Dolly's perspective as it seems to be the perfect perspective to write at this stage of the story. I will probably write another story from Flamel's and Bigblue's perspective at the later stages of the story, since they are her first companions.**

 **I didn't initially plan for Dolly to be an abandoned pokemon. I had planned right at the conception of IJWTTTW that Velda would meet a ghost type at Dewford. I initially wanted her to get a sableye, since it can be found in Granite Cave, but I found myself attracted to the idea of her owning a shuppet. I then need a reasonable explanation on why a shuppet is at Dewford, and I _really_ wanted Velda to have a shuppet. Then I had the idea of pokemon abandonment and I just winged it from there. **

**In fact, most of the contents in this chapter is written impromptu, especially the conversation between Roxanne and Brawly. It was supposed to be about Dolly, and Dolly alone. This whole chapter was supposed to end at around 8,000 to 9,000 words but I ended up writing more than 12,000 words.**

 **I wanted Velda to be a skilled trainer in this story, not the strongest, but skilled enough to be recognised. I didn't want her skills as a trainer to be recognised simply by using OP pokemon. I will probably give her one or two OP pokemon much later in the story, when she has more than six pokemon in her team, but I wanted my oc to use pokemon that are usually not preferred, or used, by the majority.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Marshtomp (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Shuppet (Dolly), female**

 **Brawly Bluewave, Age: 23, Male, Dewford Town Gym Leader**

 **1) Hariyama (Max)**

 **2) Machop**

 **3) Meditite**

 **4) Makuhita**


	5. Chapter 5- Rest and Relax

It took five days for me to travel from Dewford to Slateport city.

I had left Dewford the moment I received the Knuckle Badge from Brawly. The rooms in the pokemon center were only free to trainers for the first seven days and trainers have to pay to continue to use the rooms. The rooms are priced at a discounted price, but I had stayed in Dewford for a month and it had put a little dent in my wallet. I had also bought a reusable TM from the pokemart in my stay there. Even with the prize money I had earned from the Rustboro gym and winning some money from the bet with Vance, it is still a sizable amount of money.

Thankfully, I earned quite a bit of money from the trainer battles in Dewford, and the prize money from winning the Dewford's gym challenge is even more lucrative than winning the challenge at Rustboro. I suspect that the prize money that you earned from successfully completing gym challenges increase accordingly with the number of badges you earned in the gym circuit, but I cannot be sure until I had completed a few more gym challenges.

Prize money from trainer battles is a system that most trainers use to earn the majority of their income when challenging the gym circuit. And before you ask, no, contrary to popular beliefs, it does not start at the very first moment you made eye contact with another trainer. Both trainers must give their consent for a trainer battle to happen. To better monitor the trainers in the respective region, the PWL had mandated that every trainer have to register their trainer battles with their Pokedexes. The process is simple and straightforward. All trainers have to do is to link their Pokedex. It is a bit like using your phone's bluetooth or wifi function where the Pokedex searches for a nearby device to pair with. The trainers can also agree on the prize money before the start of the battle, and key in the agreed amount into the Pokedex. The market rate for novice trainers (trainers with 1 to 3 badges) ranges from 50 to 100 pokedollars, 100 to 500 pokedollars for intermediate trainers (trainers with 4 to 5 badges), 500 to 2,000 pokedollars (trainers with 6 to 8 badges) for advanced trainers. Battle with Elite trainers, who are trainers who have earned all 8 badges and have at least participated once in a Pokemon League Tournament, can be anywhere upwards from 2,000 pokedollars. Vance had told me that Wallace had forfeited 13,000 pokedollars to Steven when Steven defeated Wallace to earn the title of Hoenn Champion from him. After battle, the prize money would be transferred using the Pokedex from the loser to the victor through their bank accounts. Trainers can also opt out of any prize money if all they want is a friendly battle.

The definition of Elite trainers is rather loose. Technically, any trainers with 8 badges and participated at least once in a Pokemon League Tournament can be called an Elite trainer. Realistically, the difference in skill between Elite trainers can be really big. For example, a trainer who earned all 8 badges only by getting the gym leaders' recognition would definitely be a lot less skilled than a trainer who earned at least a few badges by defeating the gym leaders in battle. Thus, not all trainers with the "Elite trainer" title are truly "Elite". It is not uncommon for a skilled advanced trainer to defeat an Elite trainer who is at the bottom of the Elite trainer community. Most of the truly skilled Elite trainers often found employment in the league forces. In Hoenn, only the best of the best among Elite trainers is accepted into ACE, although a number of them also chose to enlist in the Ranger forces or the LSDF. These trainers usually finished as one of the top 10 of the Ever Grande Conference that they participated in. Dad used to be an Elite trainer until he retired from training. Vance himself had also earned his right to be referred to as an Elite trainer when he was accepted into ACE.

Speaking of Vance, _where is he_?

Vance had called me while I was on the ship from Dewford to Slateport, saying that his squad had been granted two weeks of leave after an exceptionally hard mission, starting on the same day I am scheduled to reach Slateport. He planned to spend one week with me and the other week back home with our parents in Petalburg. We agreed to meet at Slateport's pokemon center the moment I reached Slateport.

I had been waiting for an hour in the lobby of Slateport's pokemon center.

At least the wait wasn't boring, my team and I were waiting at a table near the entrance. I was hugging Dolly to my chest, where she is playing dead and acting like a real doll.

You would be surprised at the number of people who thought that Dolly is really a doll.

The reactions of these people when Dolly suddenly moved and hooted at them were hilarious. They were not expecting it as most ghost type pokemon tend to phase through other objects and living things, rarely making physical contact with anything out of combat. Most ghost type pokemon did not even allow their trainers to touch them.

I can see why Dolly love her pranks now.

I spotted the owner of a messy mop of brown hair from afar, making his way here to where I was. I grinned. I quickly told Dolly to hide in my shadows for our next prank.

Vance deserved it, it is rude to keep a lady waiting.

* * *

Macky and Vance had been together for as long as he could remember ever since he arrived into this world.

Before Macky became Macky, he was part of the chaos. The chaos was where all ghosts originated from, although most of them cannot remember their time there. Macky only had a vague impression of it. All ghosts in the chaos instinctively look forward to travelling to the world beyond the chaos. The world in the chaos is not that exciting, and it is near impossible to grow stronger there. There are ghosts who managed to return to the chaos after travelling to the other world. Some of them were of his species. They are ghosts who achieved the pinnacle of their power and are one of the few ghosts who can freely travel between the world of the chaos and the other world. They brought back information from the other world. From what he knew from these ghosts, members of the same species tend to end up together in the same area when they managed to travel to the other side. Something about the difference in the power they wield would mean that different species would usually end up in a different location from another species. He didn't really care about the why. He just knew that most of his species tend to end up arriving in a particular tower filled with death, or in a basement of a burnt tower when they first traveled from the chaos into the new world. The ghosts who can travel freely between worlds have used their powers to share bits of their memories with him. He knew for a fact that the powers his species wield will usually bring them to one of these two places.

It wasn't long before future-Macky decided to make a trip to the other world. Ghosts cannot return to the world of chaos from the other world unless they reached the pinnacle of their power, something that most ghosts would not reach. Going to the other world is a gamble, a gamble that most ghosts will take and lose anyway. But staying in the chaos is boring, and it was the deciding factor for future-Macky to make his possibly one-way trip to the other world.

The first thought that came to his mind when he first opened his eyes in the new world was that he must have screwed up the travelling process somehow.

There were no signs of a death-filled tower, or a burnt tower. There were no signs of _any_ tower.

He is floating aimlessly in a flat open field filled with grass and flowers. The sun was _shining_ (too damn bright, in Macky's opinion), and there were several pokemon nearby who were looking at him quizzically as to them, he had appeared out of nowhere. None of them know of any tower when future-Macky asked, but they directed him to where they knew a small family of humans lived. A family of three. It is the nearest building that they knew of, but they also warned future-Macky from going too close. These humans have a void canine and a mind-reader who is constantly at their side and can be extremely protective of their humans. The pokemon who had warned future-Macky also warned him that if he ever harm these humans, they themselves would come after him. To them, these humans are nice humans who have provided food and shelter for their kind for generations.

And so future-Macky began his long trek to the nearest building he knew of.

By the time he saw the building, future-Macky is exhausted. He wanted to enter the building immediately, but the warnings he received from the pokemons he just met still rang in his head. He spotted a much smaller wooden building that could probably fit one or two humans, not far from the buildings he knew the humans are resting in. Future-Macky is exhausted. Travelling into this world from the chaos took a lot out of him.

He made his decision and entered the small wooden building. It is crammed with a weird assortment of tools that probably belonged to the humans. The lack of space in the building would not be a problem for a ghost like him. He found the darkest corner and slept there.

He was not expecting a pair of curious green eyes looking at him face-to-face the moment he opened his eyes again. He must have been _really_ tired if he did not sense the human until he was up close.

It was how he met Vance, and how he became Vance's Macky.

He also met the other humans, who were his parents, and the void canine and mind-reader. The void canine and mind-reader were initially distrustful of him due to him being a ghost, but they worked out their differences privately not long after. The humans are happy to have him around as long as he did not create any trouble.

As it turns out, Vance's parents were _relieved_ at having him around. Vance was the source of all trouble in the Vera house, and Macky had already lost count on how many times he had to get Vance out of trouble within his first moon cycle in this world. Vance would wander off the moment no one is looking, and Macky have no choice but to sigh before following him to keep an eye out for him. More often than not, he would have to use his other-worldly powers to rescue him from things such as, and not limited to, falling knives, a fast moving car, a stray Thunderbolt, and a rampaging rhydon.

Vance's parents were simply glad that there is now someone to watch over Vance when they are not around.

Many more moon cycles passed, and Macky had enjoyed his stay with the family of three. Soon, the family of three turned into a family of four.

Velda had his immediate attention when Vance's parents brought her home from the healing building (he thinks the humans called it a 'hospital') into their home.

Death. Velda is filled with the aura of death. She is dead, she _should_ be dead from the way the aura fluctuates around her. But she is alive.

Macky spent the next moon cycle watching her from the shadows, contemplating the possibility of her existence.

He gave up thinking about it after a single moon cycle.

Velda is Velda, and after watching her grow up before he left with Vance for their journey, he had grown to love the child. The meaning and possibility of her existence does not matter to him anymore. Velda often helped him in keeping Vance out of trouble, and she loves to sneak food to him when no one is looking.

Food that is sneakily eaten tasted the best.

To the humans and pokemon of the Vera house, Velda is Velda Vera. A member of the Vera house just like them. For Macky, that is enough.

Besides, Vance simply adores her.

Although Macky had to admit that his first official meeting with Velda could have gone a lot better. He felt so guilty for scaring the poor child.

But then again it is Vance's fault. It is _always_ Vance's fault when these kind of things happened in the Vera house. It is his fault that Macky's status in the Vera house got reduced to Vance's unofficial babysitter. He is a powerful ghost capable of wanton destruction for giratina's sake!

Macky the ghost, aka the babysitter. Sometimes he wished that the legendaries would hear his plea and give him an answer on how all this happened in the first place.

Macky did not see Velda again for a long time after he set out on his journey with Vance. Together with Vance, they gathered more comrades and friends who shared the same dream of being the strongest team and ultimately competed in the Ever Grande Conference. He had also reached the final stage of his evolution, a step closer in achieving the pinnacle of his full power.

He still had this weird nagging thought at the back of his mind that he can somehow evolve _further_ , and isn't that a weird thought in itself?

After Vance joined ACE, Macky saw less and less of Velda due to the constant stream of missions they are on. The last time he saw her was about a moon cycle ago, when Velda is preparing to start her own journey.

And now, he and Vance are on their way to meeting her in a pokemon center. Vance had been looking forward to this meeting, and so is Macky.

As usual, Macky stayed hidden in Vance's shadow. The sun is blindingly bright. Macky had no problems with sunlight, but he didn't like to be in the middle of it. He saw the signature red and white building in the distance, and felt rather than saw Velda's unique aura. There were 3 pokemons close to her, and one of them is a ghost like him. _Interesting_.

He didn't have to wait long for Vance and Velda to meet.

"Vel! Do you miss- GAH!"

Ah. So that's what they were planning when the other ghost disappeared into Velda's shadow. Macky have to admit that it was a good prank.

He subtly eyed Velda's ghost from his place in Vance's shadows. The ghost had appeared suddenly from Velda's shadow when Vance got near, giving him a scare. The same ghost is now flying excitedly around Velda.

"What's that for!"

Macky inwardly sighed and closed his eyes. Oh great, here comes the whining.

"You deserve it. Don't you know it's rude to keep a lady waiting? It has been an hour, Vance. _One_. _Hour_."

"It's only an hour." Vance retorted, sitting down on the couch beside Velda. "Besides, you are not even a lady ye-"

His trainer's sudden silence prompted Macky to reopen his eyes. He saw Velda giving Vance a stink eye with a scowl on her face. Vance wisely shut up. Good, guess his trainer had finally grown a brain.

He also saw Velda's marshtomp and shuppet looking at their trainers' interaction with poorly concealed curiosity. He reminded himself that it is probably their first time witnessing it. He and Flamel had long gotten use to their relationship. (And Vance's antics).

He saw Velda glancing around. "Where's Macky? I know he doesn't like to stay in his pokeball."

There's his cue.

Feeling inspired by the prank, Macky decided to rose from Vance's shadow _very_ slowly and dramatically in all his ghostly glory. He heard the gasps and felt the widening of the eyes of the other humans around them. Humans have a tendency to stay far away from him.

It's fun, he should try it again sometime.

"Macky!" Velda held out her arms and Macky temporarily allowed himself to be physically touched so that she can give him a hug. Velda always gives the best hug and her aura makes him feel very comfortable around her. After releasing him, Velda dug through the pockets of her backpack and fished it out a pecha berry and placed it into his waiting paws. She remembered his favourite food.

Vance would often forget to feed him 2 meals out of 3 if Macky didn't remind him personally.

Very slowly, Macky carefully took a small bite out of his pecha berry. Ah, the _sweet_ , _sweet_ , taste. The soft and fluffy goodness. Oh Arceus, why can't his trainer feed him with this every single day?

"Hey, you didn't ask for my permission before you feed Macky. I'm his _trainer_. He will get fat if he eats too many of those."

Macky's eye visibly twitched. He isn't _fat_. He is a little big for a Gengar, but he isn't _fat_. He is a _ghost_ , a near weightless being.

"Macky's a _ghost_ , brother dear. Ghosts don't get _fat_." Macky continued to slowly munch on his pecha berry, at least someone knows their stuff. "According to _The origin and explanation to the existence of Ghost type pokemon_ written by Professor Birch, they are a mass of chaotic energy given sentience. Scientists have theorised that they are other-worldly creatures from a parallel plane that-"

"Alright, alright, I get it." Vance held out a hand to put a stop to Velda's speech. Macky was slightly disappointed. What Velda said isn't too far from the truth, and he was a little curious to find out how much humans have learnt about their kind. "How's your journey so far? Your body giving you any problems?"

"I'm _fine_ , brother dear. Stop being such a worrywart." Velda said dryly. "What about _you_? How many times did Macky have to save your ass in the one month that we didn't meet? Macky's a pretty good babysitter for you but sometimes I think it's an impossible job, even for him."

"Language, young lady. What would Mum say if she hears you?"

"Oh? Suddenly I'm a lady now? Mum will scold you for introducing me to the world of swear words in the first place. You will deny and Mum will ask Macky for the truth, and he will agree with me anyway."

That particular scenario had happened more times than Macky could count. It doesn't matter who is in the wrong. The policy of the Vera house is that when something goes wrong, point to Vance, and he would be the one in the wrong. Works every single time.

"Fine. But for the record Macky does _not_ babysit me-"

Macky promptly smacked Vance upside on the back of his head with one paw while slowly munching on his berry with the other. Vance would have died in an unmarked grave somewhere long before he started on his journey without Macky pulling Vance out of dangerous situations. Ungrateful brat.

"See, Macky agrees with me." She produced another pecha berry and handed it to Macky. Oh, sweet, sweet, Arceus.

"I do _not_ get into trouble as often as you think." Vance gritted out.

Macky simply showed his disapproval once more by smacking Vance upside on the back of his head again, informing Velda, that _no_. Vance still managed to get into trouble far more times than you would think is realistically possible.

"Really?" Velda rose an eyebrow, and began to count off her fingers. "How about the time when you nearly got your eyebrows burnt off because you keep poking at the shell of a sleeping torkoal? Or the time when you think using lotad as a hat is a good idea? Or how about that time you got yourselves nearly _skewered_ by a rhydon because you went too close when it is _mating_? Or how about-"

"Fine." Vance throw his hands up in the air. "I'm a certified trouble magnet and an idiot. Happy now?"

"Very." Velda crossed her arms against her chest, nodding her head in approval. "Where are we staying anyway? You did tell me that I do not need to book a room at the pokemon center."

Vance gave a grin. "Well then, sister dear, follow me."

* * *

Vance is _rich._ The _"I'm loaded with money"_ kind of rich.

I only realised this when I found out that he booked a suite for the both of us in a (5 star? or is it 7 star?) hotel. The suite he booked is a three-room suite usually reserved for VIPs, with one room reserved for the use of the guest's pokemon, if he/she had any.

Given our family's financial wealth, staying in a suite like this for an entire month would hardly place a noticeable dent in our wallet. But no one in our family loves to spend money frivolously and we are all rather frugal with our money. Vance and I did not ask our parents for extra money during our journey, the only time we had financial aid from our parents is when they insist on us taking the extra 1,000 pokedollars from them when we both first started our journey.

But Vance had booked the suite with his own money, and he casually said that he could stay in the suite for an entire month and it would not cost him enough to visibly notice the difference in his bank account.

I know that Vance earned a lot as an Elite trainer, and that the pay of being an ACE operative is even more lucrative. I did not expect it to be... _this_ lucrative. Although the fact that Vance hardly had the time to spend his money anyway due to him being constantly assigned to missions might have been a reason too.

At least now I know I can spend his money however I want without guilt. Like he said, he won't notice the difference anyway.

The first thing I did after depositing our stuffs in the hotel is to drag him to go shopping with me. I now had a portable ATM which comes with the function of being able to help me carry my stuffs. I would be an idiot to let this chance go to waste.

And that's how we spent our first day together in Slateport. Vance may be a goofy idiot, but he is a damn good older brother to his evil little sister. We may argue with each other most of the time but we love each other anyway.

The following six days passed by quickly as me and Vance had our fun. We explored the Slateport Market, which is an open-air bazaar that often feature items that cannot be found anywhere else. I bought a new set of boots for Vance. I bought a shirt for Dad and some knitting cloth for Mum, which Vance will help me to bring back home to our parents. I also bought a pair of matching keychains, one for Roxanne and another for Brawly, and employed the services of the Taillow Post to send it to them, along with a cheeky note to remind them to consider me as a potential candidate for godmother to their first-born child.

Who knew that Brawly and Roxanne were together? But I ship them together anyway. Brawxanne ftw.

Speaking of Brawly, I accepted his apology when Brawly called me that night to apologise for his behaviour after our gym battle, much to Roxanne's delight. I did not manage to stifle my laughter when he explained that the reason for his behaviour was because he was _jealous_ of me. No wonder that battle felt so much harder than facing Roxanne.

I still find Brawly's reaction extremely cute after hearing his apology.

He was even nice enough to warn me of the dangers of possessing a ghost type pokemon at this stage of the journey, considering that I am a novice trainer. Regardless, we both agreed that it is highly improbable that Dolly will turn on me seeing her behaviour, but it is the thought that counts. How sweet of him.

If Dolly truly wished to harm me, she would have already done so in the past month that she's with me.

Vance was merely surprised that I had the personal contact numbers of two gym leaders.

We also visited the Oceanic Museum, the Pokemon Fan Club, the Shipyard and the Slateport Harbor. We went to witness battles in the Battle Tent and watched performances in the Contest Hall. We also had our fun on the beach, something that I previously did not have the luxury of doing in my second life due to my sickly body.

I had a very fun week with Vance.

We also spend some time doing light training on the outskirts of Slateport. Although I know the pokemons that Vance's team consist of, I have never been up close and personal with them other than Macky. Vance rarely let his pokemon near our house when he is back home, only letting them far out on the farm away from us. He said that they can be a little destructive, and he would often leave the house again after a few days of rest to resume his ACE duties. As I stood beside him while he introduced his team to me, I can see why he is currently one of the best operatives in ACE.

His pokemon practically radiated power.

Macky, sceptile, salamence, metagross (where did he find a beldum?), gallade, walrein, electivire and a weavile. The lineup of pokemon in his team is really goddamn impressive. Even back in my previous world where pokemon is just a game, facing any one of those can give you a headache.

Imagine the power they collectively wield if they are all real and on the same team under the command of a single trainer. No wonder Vance didn't let any of his pokemon other than Macky in the house.

Vance's pokemon aside, I was fascinated with the history of Slateport. Due to its geographical location, it is the perfect location to set up a harbor for trade to take place. In the early days after the PWL is formed, Slateport is one of the most financially and economically developed city in Hoenn simply because it is the only place where all of Hoenn can trade their stuffs for goods that can only be found from the other regions. Items like the Reaper Cloth, which is essential for Dusclops to evolve into a Dusknoir, can only be found in the Sinnoh region. It is highly sought after whenever the trading ships from Sinnoh brought cartons of those items here. The trading volume soon became more than what the city could handle, and thus another harbor was built at Lilycove city, to meet the increasing demands for trade, although Slateport remains the first choice for many traders and trainers alike when it comes to purchasing or trading goods even till today.

It was this reason that Slateport is one of the most heavily guarded cities in Hoenn, even if you cannot visibly tell from the bustling activities of the city.

Vance had to leave for Petalburg after our fun week together. After we said our goodbyes, I left Slateport on Flamel's back and made my way to continue my journey on Route 110.

* * *

Route 110 does have a beautiful scenery, but it has nothing noteworthy to see. I just spend most of my time there travelling comfortably on Flamel's back.

We had quite a number of pokemon battles. Most of the trainers there are on their way to challenging the Mauville gym so our skill levels are similar enough for a fair fight. My team and I won most of our battles, which means more spending money for me and my team.

We also passed by the entrance to the Seaside Cycling Road, which I cannot use since I do not have a bike of my own. I did the stupid thing of trying to convince the staff at the entrance to let me travel on the cycling road by stating that Flamel can serve as a bike to me since he have no problem reaching the top speed that most bikes can reach.

The staff there merely raised an eyebrow, and booted me out of there.

Not my brightest moment, and I'm so not letting Vance find out about this.

After three days of travelling, we stopped by the trick house and visited the Trick Master, much to Dolly's delight. They hit it off immediately, and we spent the entire day trying to solve the maze-like puzzle at the back of his house.

We also spent a day exploring Route 103. Dolly and Bigblue found a natural garden full of wild berry trees hidden far out back, away from the route. I only took what I needed. The wild pokemon there needs the berries more than I do.

We back-tracked to the T-junction between Route 103 and Route 110 and continued our journey northwards to Mauville city. The population of wild electric pokemon visibly increased as we got closer to Mauville and I was wondering if I should try and find one to add to my team.

Oh well, whatever happens, happens. It will not do any good to think too much about it.

* * *

Mauville has a pleasant atmosphere.

It is does not have the bustling activities of Slateport, nor does it have the lazy feel like Dewford. It does not have the ancient and elaborate architecture that Rustboro boasts and definitely lacks the homely feel of Petalburg.

But it is still pleasant, nonetheless.

It took me 9 days to travel from Slateport to Mauville since I decided to take the long route and stopped by Route 103. It was nearing noon when we arrived and I decided to treat my pokemon and myself to a nice lunch at a pokemon eatery at the center of town, near a bike shop. We had earned a small sum of money for ourselves from the trainer battles along Route 110 and they deserve the fruits of their labours.

We were just starting on our meal when a booming laughter sounded across the eatery from the entrance.

"WAHAHA! HELLO EVERYONE, HOW'S YOUR DAY?"

Oh god, this person's voice is _loud_.

I turned my head to the source of the voice. I could not really make out who it was. Most of the customers in the eatery had already made their way closer to the owner of the booming voice to exchange greetings with whoever it was, and they blocked my vision. It wasn't until the owner of said voice walked closer towards the center of the eatery did I see who the celebrity was.

Wattson. The only person I know who dress and look this way is Wattson, Mauville's gym leader for almost 40 years, and is currently the most elderly and experienced gym leader in Hoenn. Even Juan gives him a lot of respect.

That is saying something since Juan was said to be the strongest of the Hoenn gym leaders, something which I heard from my father five years ago. The power dynamics had shifted since then, as there was a major change in Hoenn's gym leaders starting about two years back, with trainers like Roxanne and Brawly filling in the role, along with many others.

No one is sure about the current power ranking between the Hoenn gym leaders. Each of them is strong in their own right. That includes Tate and Liza, even if they are only around my age. Even Vance had no idea of the power ranking too, and he is high up in the chain of command in ACE.

My curiosity sated, my pokemon and I turned our attention back to our food.

The eatery is a little crowded, but there still a few seats available dotted across the eatery, including an empty one beside me.

One guess as to which seat Wattson chose to sit in.

"WAHAHA! HI THERE, LITTLE LADY, NAME'S WATTSON! HOW DO YOU DO?"

I winced. I really hated it when people call me _little_ , and I am starting to wish that Wattson can use his indoor voice. Still, he chose to greet me instead of the numerous customers around me, and it would simply be impolite to ignore him.

"Hi there Mr Wattson, I am Velda Vera. Pleased to meet your acquaintance. Do you mind if you lower your volume a little? I have sensitive ears."

"Oops." Watson scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression. "Sorry about that. I tend to get a little carried away." He held out a hand to me, which I accepted and shook. "You are from _t_ _he_ Vera family? Are you related to a Vance Vera by any chance?"

"He is my older brother." I replied, blinking in surprise. _What did Vance do this time?_ "Did he cause any trouble for you? He can be quite a trouble magnet if I do say so myself."

"WAHAHA! Nothing like that, Ms Vera, he just gave me a very memorable gym battle a few years back, that's all! His haunter won the gym battle by spinning my voltorb like a top! Most interesting battle I had! Most interesting indeed!"

I cannot help but laugh. That sounded like what Macky would do.

"Velda. Call me Velda."

"Then I insist that you remove the Mister from my name and call me Wattson, dear Velda."

Wattson's food had arrived, and he started to dig in.

"I'm assuming you are here for a gym battle too?" Wattson asked, and I nodded in confirmation. "Hmm..." He eyed my pokemon with an appraising look, who were also watching him throughout our conversation. "They seem like a good enough challenge. Maybe you can give me a _shocking_ battle. Get it? I'm an _Electric_ Specialist looking forward to a _shocking_ battle. WAHAHA!"

Oh god, someone save me from bad puns.

"It would be unfair if I knew your pokemons beforehand though." Wattson mused, stroking his short and neatly trimmed beard with his right hand. "Tell you what, I will face your ponyta, marshtomp, and shuppet with a voltorb, magneton and a... let me see... ah ha! A manectric! How does that sound?"

"It sounds great, Wattson." I furrowed my brows. "Are you sure it is not against the rules to know about the pokemon you are going to use beforehand?"

"WAHAHA! Don't think so much about it! Besides, I _am_ a gym leader. You would have to work really hard to earn the Dynamo Badge from me! Roxanne and Brawly had high expectations of you, you know that? I have been looking to this for ages! Remember to make sure you are fully _charged_ before you come for my gym challenge! I want to face you in an _electrifying_ battle! Get it? WAHAHA!"

Stupid me, why did I think that I have it easy even if I know the pokemon Wattson is going to use beforehand? Wattson's right. He is a gym leader, and currently the most experienced gym leader to boot. But something he said just now caught my attention.

"Roxanne _and_ Brawly talked to you about me?"

"Why, yes! They were most impressed with your performance during your gym battles! In fact, they both shared the videos of your battles among the current gym leaders in our very own chat group! Even the usually silent Norman is impressed! He actually typed a message in the group praising you, something which he _normally_ doesn't do! _Norman_ and _Normal_. Get it? WAHAHA!"

I covered my face with my palms. Oh god, _why_? _Why_ , Roxanne, _why_ are you doing this to me? I can understand if it is Brawly. But. _Why_? Life is difficult enough as it is! Is she expecting me to complete the gym circuit on legendary-hardcore-insane mode? Now all the gym leaders will know what to expect from me in battle!

"WAHAHA! Don't worry about it, young Velda!" He patted me on my back that almost sent me falling off my chair. "It is not like the pokemon we gym leaders use is a big secret among trainers who are competing in the gym circuit! You will have a chance if you do your homework! C'mon! Cheer up! Life's good!"

No, life is _not_ good. Not right now. The last thing I need is publicity and fame. I already have some of it thanks to my family name. I don't blame my family for it, I love them. But sometimes the significance and the weight of my family name does bring some unneeded attention, especially when other trainers found out about my name. There was one who actually wanted my autograph. _Really?_

Dolly, probably sensing my negative thoughts, gently bumped me in the shoulder.

"I'm fine, Dolly." I said, petting her on the head, much to Wattson's visible surprise. "Just taken by surprise, that's all."

And isn't that the understatement of the century?

* * *

Wattson and I finished our meal, and I took the opportunity to consult Wattson on some questions regarding electric type pokemon and electric type moves.

It was mainly for Dolly's benefit, seeing as how she knew moves like Charge Beam and Thunderbolt, and I do not know how knowing such moves will affect her. There were cases of pokemon (although such cases were rare) that have learnt moves too advanced for their age and resulted in some pretty disastrous incidents. A pokemon _possibly being able_ to learn advanced moves does _not_ mean that they _should_ learn advanced moves. It is always recommended to take things slow and steady in regards to this issue when the pokemon is more mature. Even the kids at the Trainer's School understand this.

Dolly's previous trainer is a jerk and an even bigger idiot.

Wattson was taken aback at learning Dolly's previous predicament when he asked why I was so interested in letting Dolly learn electric type moves at this point. I explained that I do not have a choice since Dolly _already_ knew those moves, and I had to do something about it.

The advice he gave me was similar to what Vance told me as well, that it shouldn't affect Dolly too much at this point so long as she do not use these moves too often. It would be best to not use them at all at this stage. Dolly does not have the power yet to utilise it properly. The only solution is to wait, until Dolly evolves into a banette, _then_ we can try to master the electric type moves.

All in all, it was a very enriching conversation.

After my meal with Wattson, he went back to his gym to do his job, while I set off to find a nice training spot for my pokemon.

Wattson wanted a _shocking_ battle, and I will give him one.

* * *

 **AN: A short chapter since I really need to take a short break from writing. I have been sleeping at around 3.30 am everyday consecutively for the past 4 days, trying to successfully publish a chapter a day. It is affecting the quality of my writing, especially with all the grammatical and spelling errors that I would not usually make. I will try and see if I have the time to correct the mistakes I made in the previous chapters, as I had already spotted a few.**

 **I saw the reviews. And I would like to say a big THANK YOU for even taking the time to comment. I will take your comments into consideration, as I think I need a second opinion. I will try not to disappoint, it is my first time writing a fanfiction. It is my first time writing a story on this level and scale, really.**

 **Lastly, I hoped you enjoyed the story thus far.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Marshtomp (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Shuppet (Dolly), female**

 **Vance Vera, Age: 18, Male, ACE operative and second-in-command to his ACE squad, older brother to Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gengar (Macky), male**

 **2)** **Sceptile**

 **3) Salamence**

 **4) Metagross**

 **5) Gallade**

 **6) Walrein**

 **7) Electivire**

 **8) Weavile**

 **Watson, Age:? (it's rude to ask an elder for his age), Male, Gym leader of Mauville City**

 **1) Voltorb**

 **2) Magneton**

 **3) Manectric**


	6. Chapter 6- Into The Sands

I won the Dynamo Badge after two weeks of training in Mauville.

The gym trainers weren't too hard to handle, considering I had Bigblue, who is now a part-ground type. Unlike the previous two gym challenges, I didn't use Flamel to sweep through the gym trainers, but sent out Bigblue instead. Bigblue is simply better suited to take out the whole lot of them than Flamel for this gym challenge.

Another major factor on why I chose to use Bigblue instead is also because of money. I had no doubt that Flamel is equally capable of taking out the gym trainers alone at the novice trainer level, but I will have to spend a whole lot more of my money on extra potions and paralyse heals on him throughout the battles before facing Wattson. Flamel is susceptible to electric type attacks. Bigblue, on the other hand, is immune to electric type attacks. This factor alone severely limits the options that Mauville gym trainers have when facing him in battle, and allowed Bigblue to have his way with them. None of the gym trainers have pokemon that are able to effectively counter a ground type at the novice trainer level, allowing Bigblue to rampage through the gym relatively unscathed, and needing lesser potions to heal up by extension.

I'm starting to realise that it is equally important for trainers to have some skills in financial planning. It is just not possible to complete a gym circuit without any money, and not having any plans to earn or save money during your journey is a big no-no. Without money, trainers cannot buy training essentials like potions, and no one is capable of finishing a gym circuit without potions no matter how strong they are.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round.

There is one thing that Wattson said during our conversation in the eatery that caught my attention. He mentioned that the pokemon that gym leaders use isn't a big secret and that I have a chance if I did my homework. It got me thinking. Every trainer can _only_ have so many pokemon realistically, including gym leaders. It would not be hard to find out the pokemons gym leaders usually use if I asked around, right?

It turns out, there are forums and even strategy guides by various trainers on all gyms, including those of regions outside Hoenn, and they are readily available on the internet. I cannot help but berate myself for not thinking about this possibility sooner. The information would have made my life at the previous two gyms a lot easier.

I ignored the strategy guides and simply focused on the pokemons that the various Hoenn gym leaders are known to use. If I want to win, I would win it my own way instead of relying on a tried-and-tested method derived by the populace. Relying on these guides may help me win my gym battles, but I will not go far in my Ever Grande Conference by depending on it. The forums are actually very detailed on the pokemons used by gym leaders, which is the only information I'm interested in. Any other information about their known moves and battle habits were ignored by me. I have my own pride as a trainer and I wish to win my battles fair and square. The only fact about my gym battles that the other gym leaders knew are the lineup of pokemons that I have on my team, and it is not like I would be stupid enough to use the same strategy repeatedly in the other gym challenges. Hence, for the other gym leaders, knowing the moves of my pokemon serves as a rough gauge of my pokemon's strength at best. If the other gym leaders that I am going to face in the future knew what pokemons I am going to use in their gyms, I think it is fair enough that I know what they might possibly use too.

When I checked about the pokemons that Wattson normally use against novice trainers, I find out that voltorb, magneton, and manectric (which are the pokemons that he said he is going to use against me) are pokemons that are almost regularly used by him against most novice trainers. This is also a common knowledge among the locals in Mauville. Basically, the information he gave me is near useless as long as I bothered to even ask a single Mauville local. Confirming the pokemons that we are both going to use against each other is more of an advantage to him than me, since usually the challengers are the ones with the element of surprise.

Sneaky old man.

The battles I faced against Roxanne and Brawly made me realised that while my pokemons are pretty good at going on the offensive, they are pretty much average in skills when it comes to defending themselves. That is not acceptable, and it is going to be a glaring problem if we do not rectify it soon.

With that in mind, defence training became our main focus for the two weeks of training in Mauville. We practiced on how to block, defend, dodge, and how to minimise the damage taken if we have absolutely no choice but to take the attack head on. The move that we practiced the most within the two weeks is Protect, which I taught to all three of my pokemons when I bought the reusable TM in Dewford. It is a worthy investment. Protect is an interesting move. To use this, the user have to stay still and focus on creating an impenetrable shield made of energy. The more you use it repeatedly, the harder it is for the user to keep the focus needed to use it consecutively. There are ways to minimise the focus needed, which is mainly achieved by reducing the size and surface area of the shield. The smaller the shield produced, the easier it is to reproduce it again at a quick notice, although the success is not 100% guaranteed. We experimented on this idea, and I am glad to say that although none of them are masters in the move yet by the end of the training, they are at least proficient enough in it.

I tried to create a new move with Flamel by attempting to use Protect like a shield in front of him while he is running at top speed. The idea is to turn Flamel into some sort of battering ram. It didn't work, of course, the focus needed to maintain Protect while running is too much for Flamel to handle. It would be so damn cool if we pulled it off, since Protect is impenetrable and there are very little moves that are able to get pass it. Anyone would be hard-pressed to stop Flamel if he ever pulled it off.

I supposed I can't always get what I want in life, but I want to try this idea again when Flamel evolves into a rapidash in the future. I think I may have hit onto something here.

After knowing the pokemons Wattson is going to use against me, I began to plan out my strategy against him. Bigblue alone would have very much guaranteed a win for me at this stage, to be perfectly honest. Having the type advantage is important, but I don't want to win my gym battles simply because I always have the type advantage against the type specialty of the gym leaders I'm facing against. I may not be aiming to be the strongest trainer, but I want to at least hold my own against most Elite trainers, a title I know I will most likely obtain in the future. Any decent Elite trainer would have their own ways to combat against any type disadvantages they may face. You will be digging your own grave if you simply think that using type advantages is the best way to win battles. I need to learn how to fight my battles without type advantages, together with how to work around type disadvantages as early as possible. The battle with Wattson is the best opportunity I can ask for, simply because I can prepare against him. It is better to make mistakes and learn from it early on during the gym circuit, than to fail later when the environment is less forgiving.

Hence, I plan to only use Bigblue against Wattson if, and only if, he is the only pokemon I have left in my battle against him. I will try to only rely on Flamel and Dolly to take on Wattson's team. Practical reasons about money aside, another reason why I let Bigblue take on the gym trainers is because I do not want him to think that the training that he had been through the last two weeks is for nothing. Each and every single pokemon on my team needs to grow, and I will try to allocate every learning opportunities we have among them as equally as possible. I am not a fan of favouritism. I will always try to spend an equal amount of time and attention on each of them, although I'm not sure if I can manage it when we have more members on our team in the future.

So that leaves me with the question on how I am going to battle Wattson, whether I should start the battle with Flamel or Dolly. I decided on using Flamel as my lead pokemon in this battle. The reason for my decision was that, _if_ I was Wattson, I would probably not start off the battle with a pokemon with the strongest fighting prowess. The opponent will have ample opportunities to adjust the tactics used to bring down your strongest pokemon when all pokemon on the opponent's team is still in good fighting condition. For this battle, Manectric would be his strongest pokemon no matter how you look at it. This means that he will likely start off his battle with his voltorb or magneton. The only concern I have for voltorb is that it can reach high levels of speed if it wants to, and the well-known self-destructing tendencies that its species is so famous for is also something to look out for. I would not worry too much if he starts off with his magneton, due to the type advantage Flamel have against it. I know I said that I wouldn't depend on type advantages to win my battles, but if Wattson knowingly decides to use a steel type against me when I have a fire type on my side, then that's his problem. I know he had other options such as plusle, minun, electrike and a few others after looking through the forums. It could also be that his magneton is so well-trained that type disadvantages is not an issue, but I highly doubt it would be the case for a challenge at the novice trainer level.

Between voltorb and magneton, the only real threat for Flamel is voltorb, with its speed being its most deadly asset, other than its exploding powers. Luckily, Flamel had just managed to learn Agility shortly before reaching Mauville, and it would be what we need against voltorb. Reaching the speed granted by Agility is not hard, whether you can effectively use the increased speed after using Agility is the key. To master Agility, the user have to make sure it possessed the necessary reaction speed to attack and defend itself when moving at high speeds. The reaction speed has to be trained, there is no shortcut to it. Otherwise, without the needed reaction speed, the user will simply run headfirst into the first obstacle it faced. To help Flamel with mastering the move, I let Bigblue and Dolly use Flamel as target practice while Flamel tried to defend himself from the onslaught of attacks after using Agility. Currently, Flamel only has the reaction speed to handle two uses of Agility, and he actually got good enough to launch a few counterattacks of his own eventually. I told Flamel to hold off on using Protect in the battle as long as possible, as it would be our trump card in successfully defending ourselves from voltorb's Self-Destruct, and would be most effective when they are not expecting it.

Dolly doesn't have much to learn about defending herself simply because her species is not built to take hits. The only thing I could help her with is to increase the number of successful use of Protect. Once that is done, we focused more on honing existing moves that we can use for this gym battle. Dolly had gotten pretty good with her ghost type moves like Shadow Sneak and Shadow Ball, which is not only her bread and butter, but also her preferred moves. I decided to try and hone her skills with Toxic. Although Toxic is an advanced move she learnt from her previous trainer, it has a far lesser chance on backfiring on her compared to the other moves that were taught to her, as it requires mastery of the move rather than the need for raw power. We also created a combo of Toxic/Will-O-Wisp followed by Hex. Hex is a move that deals more damage if the target has a major status ailment like burnt, poisoned, paralysis etc. The effects of Toxic is pretty well-known and self-explanatory, Will-O-Wisp creates fire to give their target a nasty burn. It is not hard to see the beauty of this combo when Dolly knows all the moves to pull off an effective Hex attack. Dolly had also somehow managed to learn Curse on her own, a high risk, high reward move that works very differently for ghost type pokemon, inflicting a great deal on the user to deal damage over time to its target. I was sure that she did not know how to use this move back when I met her on Dewford, and have no idea how she managed to learn such a dangerous move without me knowing when she spent the majority of her time with me. I decided to train her in using it properly under my supervision, just in case she decided to use this move without my consent in the gym battle. For ghost type pokemon, improper usage of Curse can cause fatal harm to themselves, and I do not want that to happen to Dolly.

Bigblue is no longer as quick and nimble he used to be the moment he evolves into a marshtomp. Unlike Dolly and Flamel, Bigblue's physique is designed to take a lot more punishment. I had to find information from the internet on the best ways for his species to learn to defend itself, which I then taught to Bigblue. After seeing Bigblue's proficiency with rock techniques and his love for it, I had trained him on how to use it better with a few helpful tips from Roxanne. He can now summon rocks of various sizes with nary a thought, although he still doesn't possess the power to create really big ones. Most of the rocks are at least big enough to cover him, and he learnt how to summon rocks to shield himself from attacks. His mastery and usage of could probably rival those of a rock type pokemon eventually, and he did look the part of an earthbender from Avatar while using rock techniques, discounting the fact that he is not human.

Once our training was done, we wasted no time in attempting the Mauville gym challenge. You can see the thought that Wattson put into designing the layout of the gym the moment you stepped through his gym doors. Once again, the layout of the gym is those of a maze (why are gym leaders so fond of mazes?), and you have to find your way through it by turning off the correct electric fences that form the walls of the maze. The switches needed to turn off the fences are cleverly disguised as floor tiles and you have to squint really hard to even notice them. The only one among our team who had fun trying to find the correct way out of the maze is Dolly, and since she is good at finding the correct floor tiles, we simply gave the job of finding the correct floor tiles to her.

After defeating all seven gym trainers in the Mauville gym, healing Bigblue with potions, and failing to straighten my frazzled hair thanks to the static in the air, we made our way to where Wattson is waiting for us at the back of the gym.

As I expected, Wattson's voltorb was the first pokemon he used in battle. Flamel unleashed a large AOE attack by bathing the entire arena in flames with usages of Fire Spin and Flamethrower, its effects boosted by Sunny Day. Flamel's use of Agility also negated any speed advantage that voltorb had over Flamel. Voltorb was quickly overpowered. When I saw voltorb quivering uncontrollably, and glowed unnaturally bright, I knew it had decided to take Flamel down together with it by using Self-Destruct. I simply ordered Flamel to use Protect to shield itself as practiced.

One pokemon down.

The next pokemon we had to face was manectric, who started off with a Rain Dance. I was impressed by Wattson's quick thinking. With a single move, he doused the flames on the arena and created an environment that increases the accuracy and power of electric type moves. I could try and take back the advantage with another use of Sunny Day, but there is no point in it since Wattson's manectric can do the exact opposite with Rain Dance.

I decided that I do not need a re-enactment of the historical battle between Groudon and Kyogre.

I recalled Flamel, and sent out Dolly. I had planned on pitting Dolly against his manectric anyway. Both Dolly and Flamel are not able to match manectric in a contest of power yet, especially when manectric is a fully evolved pokemon. What made Dolly a more suitable candidate to challenge manectric is that she is extremely tricky to deal with, and is able to dish out unexpected moves against her foes.

I cannot wait for the day when she finally master her whole arsenal of moves when she evolves into a banette. I am sure it will be a spectacular sight.

Dolly dove into the shadows upon entering the battle and got in a sneak attack with Shadow Sneak, followed by poisoning manectric with an unhealthy dose of Toxic. Manectric howled in pain, and attempted to crush her with its jaws with Bite. Dolly waited for manectric's jaws to close around her, and used Protect around herself at the last minute. Manectric howled in pain once more from the hurt its teeth experienced when clashed against the shield created by Protect.

Wattson did say he wanted something _shocking_. Here it is. Newsflash, Protect can actually be used offensively if applied correctly. I hope he wasn't disappointed.

Taking advantage of manectric's temporary distraction due to its pain, Dolly attacked manectric with Hex, dealing a lot of damage. Manectric retaliated with a Shock Wave, a move that cannot be avoided. I ordered Dolly to use Protect again, which she did, only that the shield produced was much smaller this time and that it only covered the area that Shock Wave was supposed to hit. Dolly immediately went on the offensive again, she recognised the danger that Shock Wave presented and knew that she cannot block it with Protect every single time. She unleashed a barrage of Shadow Balls, forcing manectric to be on the defensive. The individual size of each Shadow Ball she used for a Shadow Ball barrage is smaller than an ordinary Shadow Ball she usually produce, but the speed of production of the smaller Shadow Balls together with the sheer quantity more than made up for the deficiency of power should she produce a normal one instead.

Dolly and manectric exchanged a series of attacks while we waited for Toxic to run its course in manectric's body. Dolly followed my teachings in not overextending herself the moment Toxic hits its target, and only pressed her attacks when she is sure that she is safe in doing so. When Dolly was battling manectric, she dodged any attacks by hiding in the shadows. If manectric attacked with Shock Wave, Dolly would interrupt it with a Shadow Ball, or use another Protect if it cannot be interrupted.

"Manectric, Flash! Full Blast!"

Oh shit.

With a roar, manectric emitted a blinding light from its body, and I had to cover my eyes, trying to peek through the gaps between my fingers. The sudden increase in light removed any nearby shadows that Dolly can hide into. Rain Dance is still active and I can hear the crackling of ozone, _double shit_.

"Dolly, Protect, NOW!"

We were too late as manectric's Thunder attack came crashing down onto Dolly, defeating her in a single move. However, manectric was also well-spent from using such a strong Thunder attack while being badly poisoned, and fainted right after. I have to give it to Wattson. This is the second time he and his manectric managed to turn their disadvantages around to their advantage with a single move. The first move was the use of Rain Dance to douse Flamel's flame and to force me to switch him out, while giving him a better environment to fight in. The second was the use of Flash to get rid of the shadows on the arena, taking away Dolly's best defence. The Flash also provided a brief opening for manectric to use Thunder, with Rain Dance still active, on Dolly, who is now defenceless without any shadow to fall back on.

He truly lived up to his reputation and title as a gym leader.

"WAHAHA! That's it! I give up! You won this match, Velda! Congratulations!"

I blinked. This wasn't what I was expecting when I recalled Dolly. I was on the verge of sending Flamel out into battle.

"Why are you so surprised?" Wattson commented as he walked down into the arena and recalled manectric, surveying the aftermath of our battle. He beckoned me to come down from my challenger box into the arena, which I did. "You are left with two pokemon who are still fresh, not to mention that they both have type advantages against my only remaining pokemon, magneton. Your type advantages would mean nothing to my magnezone, but the fact remains that it is not my magnezone you are facing, but my magneton, who is not yet experienced enough to effectively deal with its type disadvantages." He placed a large hand on my left shoulder, and gave me a megawatt smile. Damn, his taste in bad puns is starting to affect me too.

"Let this be a lesson to you, young Velda. Pokemon may fight for us, but they are our friends first and foremost. If you are fighting a losing battle, sometimes it is better to cut your losses to not let our pokemon friends get hurt unnecessarily. Of course, it would be a different story if you are engaged in a life-or-death battle, but I don't think you will see one of those unless you plan to join ACE. Those kind of battles are rare even in the Rangers and LSDF." He rummaged through his pockets before giving me the Dynamo Badge and a TM. "The TM is a reusable TM containing Shock Wave, and I think you saw for yourself how useful this move is. It does not pack a lot of power, but its accuracy is top-notch." He began his signature 'WAHAHA' laugh before continuing. "Keep it up, Velda. You just got yourself a supporter in me. This is my personal contact number." He handed a crumpled slip of paper with a series of numbers written on it. "Remember to give me a call before you compete in the Ever Grande Conference, I want to watch your battles. I'm feeling I'm forgetting something...OH! Good job in using that Protect of yours! I haven't seen a Protect that was used offensively in that manner! A truly _shocking_ experience indeed! WAHAHA!"

I gave him the cutest smile I can manage. "I aim to please."

Wattson laughed even harder.

* * *

Wattson cannot help but agree with Roxanne's and Brawly's assessment of Velda as he saw her exiting his gym through the gym doors.

He was _shocked_ when he first saw the video that Roxanne shared on the gym leaders chat group, the strategies that Velda employed with her ponyta in the battles with the gym trainers (yes, those are recorded too) is by no means the level of a novice trainer, it was those he would expect to see from an intermediate trainer. Her battle with Roxanne's nosepass showed that Velda is capable of thinking many steps ahead in her battles against her opponents, and that she is the type to always have a backup plan for every single possible scenario from her use of Counter. It is a risky move, but he can tell it was a calculated risk she took together with her pokemon.

It caught the immediate attention of the gym leaders. Velda is not the only talented trainer they have met. But none of them knew of anyone who managed to show such level of skill on their first gym challenge, and completed it with only two pokemon on their team. Velda even managed to beat the gym leader, even if she pulled it off by the skin of her teeth.

Watson and Flannery were the first to respond and shared their opinions, as they are the most talkative among their colleagues. Tate and Liza responded shortly after, they are easily excitable due to their age and they are excited of the possibility in facing someone near their age with such level of skill. Since Tate and Liza are in charge of the seventh gym in the gym circuit, most trainers that managed to reach them are often older than them by a fair bit. They have been looking forward to facing younger challengers ever since they took on their shared position of gym leader. Juan and Winona were also surprised that a novice trainer had displayed such alarming potential. Roxanne simply cannot stop gushing at Velda and lamented at the fact that she declined to train under her as an apprentice.

Wattson had heard from Noel that Steven had shown similar potential with his first gym battle, but even then he was a full two years older than Velda, and used more than two pokemon in his gym challenge.

When Brawly sent his video a day later depicting the battle between him and Velda, Wattson could feel the excitement _sparking_ while watching the video.

Her battle with Brawly did not show anything flashy other than her ponyta's liberal use of fire type attacks. Her moves are a lot more calculated now, and her pokemon had certainly grown a lot stronger between the Rustboro and Dewford gym challenges, together with Velda's skills as a trainer.

While watching the video, Wattson could not help but laugh at Brawly's grimace when Velda sent out a shuppet against his makuhita. He could understand the feeling. It was the same feeling that he had when he faced ground type pokemons from his challengers when he first became the gym leader of Mauville. He grew out of it after awhile, and he is sure that Brawly will do the same in time. Wattson also got more excited at the prospect of facing such a young and talented trainer, his anticipation of facing Velda in battle growing every passing day. Similar to him, the other gym leaders should have also realised that Velda could have possibly defeated all three of Brawly's pokemon with her shuppet alone. The fact that she did not do that displayed a level of pride that she possess as a trainer. Velda is someone who will not take the easy way out.

He wasn't expecting their first meeting to be at his favourite eatery. He ordered his favourite plate of chicken chop as usual, he greeted the people there as usual, the eatery was as crowded as usual, so it wasn't hard to spot the only unusual occurrence in the eatery.

The unusual occurrence was a young girl with long blond hair, with her back facing him on the far side of the room. She was eating with her pokemon, which consists of a ponyta, a marshtomp and a shuppet. There's currently only one trainer in Hoenn he knew of that had that exact pokemon in their team, and the girl fits the description to a T.

Wattson knew at the moment who that young girl was. He could wait until their gym battle to get to know her, but he could not resist the temptation of getting to know her earlier after seeing her past performances in her gym battles. Before he realised it, he had already placed himself in the seat next to her. Despite already knowing her name, Wattson used the pretense of introducing himself to get officially acquainted with Velda for the first time.

Their first meeting went better than what he expected it to be. Velda may be young, but she has potential, something that any experienced trainer can pick up on after seeing her in battle. Meeting her in person confirmed his thoughts about her as a trainer. He was surprised that Velda had really managed to tame a ghost type pokemon so early on in her journey, and that the two of them shared such a close bond. He was pleased to see that Velda is a trainer that cares for her pokemon.

Velda gave him the most _electrifying_ battle he ever had in a while. The battle with his manectric showed him that Velda is a trainer who is worthy of deserving his Dynamo Badge. Wattson had been a gym leader for nearly 40 years, and had watched numerous trainers come and go. He could still remember the times the new batch of Hoenn gym leaders came into his gym as a trainer for a gym battle, and now they are his colleagues, who had attained power to rival his own. Every time a trainer he had previously battled in his gym made a name for themselves in the world, he felt like a proud parent, even if he never had a child of his own.

His wife died from an incurable sickness before they had the chance to have one. He missed her.

Wattson sighed. Ella would have liked Velda, and he would find time as soon as possible to visit Ella's grave to tell her all about the electrifying battle he just had.

* * *

I stayed for another two weeks to visit the nearby Verdanturf town and to also experience life in New Mauville. Verdanturf town had nothing worthy of note except for their beautiful flowers. I suspect the reason for this is due to Verdanturf's geographical location. Verdanturf is located near Mt Chimney. The ashes from Mt Chimney most likely drifted through the winds and some of them was deposited into the soils of Verdanturf, making Verdanturf's soil suitable for growing plant life.

I also passed by the Wildvolt's farm on the way there, who is the only major competitor in my family's business. Their farm is located between Mauville and Verdanturf, similar to the daycare center in pokemon emerald. Unlike my family, the Wildvolts did not specialise in pokemon breeding, even if they do provide that service. They provided services in both pokemon breeding _and_ pokemon daycare. My family's farm did accept some request for pokemon daycare from time to time, but those are uncommon. The Wildvolts on the other hand, decided to focus on both services, with more emphasis on pokemon daycare services. Hence, while my family is known for our expertise in pokemon breeding, the Wildvolts are known as the best in Hoenn for their daycare services. The pokemon daycare service is basically a service for trainers to deposit their pokemon when they do not wish to carry their pokemon with them, or incapable of taking care of their pokemon for a short period of time, or simply a place for trainers to house their pokemon when they do not have the space to house them in their own home. Not every trainer has my luxury of owning a big house with a backyard large enough to accommodate many pokemon, and a farm for them to explore. This is where the daycare services comes in. Pokemon daycare service helps to take care of trainers' pokemon for a fee. If the trainers' pokemon found a mate and produced an egg at their stay in the daycare, the fee can be waived, partially or wholly, depending on how much the daycare think the pokemon egg is worth. It is an option that most trainers took, and is why the Wildvolts are our family's largest competitor. The staggering amount of trainers who deposited their pokemon there had gave them a wide variety of pokemon eggs. There are many other places that provided pokemon daycare services other than the Wildvolts in different parts of Hoenn, but none of them have the same reputation that the Wildvolts have.

New Mauville is the highlight of my two extra weeks of stay in Mauville. Unlike the games from my previous life, New Mauville is an underground city that was the brain-child of the most brilliant of minds that ever existed in Hoenn. A group of scientists and engineers had dreamt of building a city to prove that humans and wild pokemon can live harmoniously alongside each other. The concept of New Mauville was birthed about 30 years ago, but due to the limits of the technologies back then and the uphill battle that the scientists faced in convincing the Hoenn League to approve of such an ambitious project, the project had to be put on hold. It was only 20 years ago that the needed technologies to build New Mauville was invented that the Hoenn League gave them the green light to attempt this project. Land scarcity is a major problem in Hoenn, and the team of scientists and engineers eventually decided to solve it by building their dream city underground right beside Mauville. The project was named "New Mauville", and was completed after another ten long years. The eventual successful completion of New Mauville caused a huge uproar across the world, and inspired many subsequent projects that encouraged the co-existence between humans and pokemon.

Compared to Mauville, New Mauville is a bustling city that is active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a city full of life, a city that never sleeps. Wild pokemon can be seen wandering the streets and interacting fearlessly with humans on their own accord. Children would play with wild pokemons in the parks. Aspiring trainers in Mauville would try to find their starters in New Mauville by asking wild pokemon if they would want to follow them on a journey. Walking through New Mauville is like experiencing the life of living in a utopia. The heart of New Mauville is a large electric generator that is well maintained and heavily guarded. It is the most technologically advanced electric generator in the world, being able to supply not only both New Mauville and Mauville with power, but also help Slateport and Verdanturf in meeting their energy demands. All of it is done without pollution to the environment, making the energy produced by the generator a clean energy source. Sadly, visiting and viewing of the electric generator is not open to the public, and thus I did not have the chance to see the generator with my own two eyes.

My curiosity sated, I decided to continue northwards in my journey, and attempt to traverse one of the most perilous location in Hoenn.

* * *

Nothing I could do can prepare me for the desert in Route 111. I could choose not to travel through Route 111 in the desert, but I wanted the experience. Not only is the desert in Route 111 one of the longest route in Hoenn, it is dry, hot, and half of our time in the desert is spent on finding shelter to hide from the short but frequent bouts of sandstorm. My journey through the desert had to be done on my own two feet, as Flamel's physique is not suitable to carry me across the desert. I have Bigblue constantly at my side, and Dolly decided to hide in the shadows of one my backpack's side pocket so that she can view the desert without being exposed to the harsh conditions of the desert. I had filled my backpack with large amounts of water and food to sustain our journey, and relied on my compass to navigate through the desert. We would not have made it out otherwise. All you can see everywhere are rocks, the occasional cactus, more rocks, the rare sightings of pokemon, and even more sand. The lack of landmarks made it hard to ensure that you stay on the right track, and the heat during daytime is so hot that travelling during nighttime is our only time we can travel across the desert if there are no sandstorms brewing. Bigblue was our MVP in ensuring that we made it out of the desert alive in one piece. His head-fin can accurately sense the sandstorm long before it hits us, and his mastery in his rock techniques enabled him to create temporary shelters out of rocks if we cannot find a place to hide from the sandstorm in time.

The one place I was determined to visit in the desert is the desert ruins. No one knew exactly which time period the ruins was built. Even the archaeologists did not manage to pinpoint the exact time frame, nor the ancient civilisation it belonged to. The mystery of the place is alluring to me, and I wanted to visit it at least once in this lifetime.

I was on my way to the desert ruins when I met the next member of my team that will join me on my journey.

Bigblue had alerted us to an approaching sandstorm, and we managed to find a small cave by the side of a large rock plateau that separated the desert region from the non-desert region in Route 111. The cave is narrow but long, extending a long way into the side of the plateau, and we did not bother exploring the deeper parts of the cave. It seemed like a passageway of sorts. We just stayed neared the entrance of the cave and we were fairly comfortable inside. The cave was large enough for me to let out Flamel out of his pokeball for him to spend time with us until the sandstorm subsided. I adjusted my clothes that I was wearing, which was bought specially for the journey across the desert, and leaned against the side of the cave. Bigblue had blocked the entrance of the cave with rocks to prevent the impending sandstorm from invading our cave, only allowing gaps big enough for air ventilation. I spent the next hour trying to teach my pokemon how to play a game of tic-tac-toe on the sandy floor of the cave, and the four of us played happily while waiting for the sandstorm to pass.

Bigblue suddenly went on full alert halfway into our game, turning towards the deeper parts of the poorly lit cave. Dolly and Flamel followed suit, staring intently into the darkness of the cave. Dolly suddenly dashed past us into the darkness, and I could not help but let out a cry of worry. The darkness may be Dolly's domain, but there is something in the cave that Bigblue had deemed to be potentially dangerous. I have the right to worry.

I heard Dolly's excited chattering after a short moment. That means that the unknown threat is most probably a pokemon, and is probably harmless to us if Dolly finds it friendly enough to have a conversation with. I heard a continuous snapping sound that snaps in irregular rhythm in reply to Dolly's chattering, and it got me wondering just what pokemon Dolly met in the cave. My question was answered shortly when Dolly reappeared in tow with the mystery pokemon. It has four short stubby legs and the largest jaws I had ever seen. It was so large and disproportionate to its entire body size that I wondered how it could have supported its jaws and walked without losing balance. Almost the entirety of its body is a light brown other than the white on the underside of its body, where its belly is.

Dolly's mystery friend was a trapinch.

This trapinch is definitely larger than the other trapinchs I had spotted in the desert. Closer inspection reveals that it is a male, and already showing the signs of evolution that I had read in books about its species. It would probably not be long before it evolves into a vibrava from what I can tell. I offered a handful of pokemon food as a way of saying hello, and we soon had another player in our game of tic-tac-toe.

When the sandstorm finally subsided after two hours, Bigblue took down the rocks he used to barricade the entrance, and we packed up to continue our journey towards the desert ruins. Dolly went up to trapinch, and I presumed she want to say her goodbyes to her new friend she met in the unforgiving desert. I do not know exactly what she told trapinch, but she pulled Bigblue and Flamel into their conversation and seemed to try very hard to discuss something with them. The four pokemon began their impromptu discussion while leaving me, the only human, to listen into their conversion without a clue as to what they are talking about.

When they were finally done, Bigblue got behind me and gently pushed me to where trapinch is. Trapinch and I stood face-to-face with a distance about a mere foot apart. Dolly is flying her loop-de-loops around us, an action that she usually did only when she is excited about something. I still have no idea where this is going.

Bigblue interrupted my staring contest with trapinch by gently pulling on my pants. He pointed to the pokeballs on my belt, before pointing to trapinch. On cue, trapinch took a small step forward and began to snap its jaws. I widened my eyes in surprise, and turned to Bigblue.

"Are you saying that trapinch wants to follow us on our journey?"

Bigblue nodded, while Dolly began to increase her speed in doing her loop-de-loops while shouting in delight. Flamel snorted once in confirmation and trapinch just stood in front of me while giving me a determined stare, snapping its jaws every now and then.

I knelt down to trapinch's height, and spoke.

"My wish is to travel the world. If you wish to be the strongest pokemon, then I'm sorry, I'm not the trainer that you should be looking for. I can train you to be strong, strong enough to reach your final evolution and a little beyond that, but that's about it. The only promise that I can give you is that I will try to be the best trainer for you if you decide to join us. I am still new in this whole training business, and you will need to be patient with me at times. Even so, do you wish to travel with me?"

Trapinch simply stared at me for another short moment as if replaying my words in its mind. He gave a single snap of its jaws, which I took as a sign of confirmation.

I smiled. I had already decided on a name for trapinch in the short moment when he was mulling through my words. I think it is an apt description of him, if he decided to accept that as his nickname.

"I gave every pokemon I have a nickname. Ponyta's name is Flamel, marshtomp's name is Bigblue, and shuppet's name is Dolly. I was thinking about calling you Snap, since you were constantly snapping your jaws during our time in this cave. Do you like the name?"

Trapinch gave another single snap of its jaws.

"Welcome to our little family, Snap."

* * *

 **AN: I'm unsure if I should include Wattson's pov in this story as that part is poorly written in my opinion. But I still left it there as there are points in there that I could use to build up the later parts of IJWTTTW, and to provide a better picture of the pokemon world that I built in this story. Writing about Velda's experience in Mauville is my biggest challenge so far as there is nothing critical in Mauville that contributes to her growth as a person and as a trainer other than the gym battle. If I was writing a mc whose goal is to conquer the gyms and aim to be the strongest trainer, similar to most pokemon fanfics out there, I would not have hesitate to skip to the desert arc the moment the mc wins the gym battle. However, the concept behind this story is different. The mc, Velda, just want to travel the world. There is a very big difference behind her motivations in being a trainer, and thus it will lead her to do different things out of the norm. She will take her time exploring Hoenn, not caring much about the amount of time she takes to complete the gym circuit as long as she managed to qualify in competing in it at the end. I cannot simply skip on writing her journey in Mauville and Verdanturf.**

 **The concept of an underground city at New Mauville was inspired by the portrayal of New Mauville in the _Pokemon Adventures_ manga that I read as a child. In the manga, New Mauville is a huge underground playground that the ancestor of the Trick Master designed and built when he anticipated that Hoenn will face a problem of land scarcity in the future. To ensure that children of the future have places to play and enjoy, he built New Mauville. I simply expanded on this idea, and turned the playground into a city.**

 **I also have to confess that I am not the person who first thought of the idea of using Protect offensively in fanfics, although the battering ram idea was my own. The credit of an offensive Protect belongs to someone else, and the problem is I do not know who is the original creator of this idea so I cannot credit him/her properly. I have read a few fanfics that depicted fights when the mc met opponents who used protect offensively, although I cannot remember which fanfic(s) exactly. I suspect that one or two of the fanfics that I had recommended in the first chapter had used the same idea, but I cannot be sure, and I do not have the time to reread every single one of them to try and determine who was the original creator. The next best thing I could do is to post my confession here, and if you know who the original creator of the idea is, do give him/her your support.**

 **Personally, I am still not pleased with how I wrote this chapter, especially Wattson's pov. Although all the ideas are how I wanted it to be, I keep feeling that the entire chapter can be written better, but I don't know how. I promise that the subsequent chapters will be better. I have ideas for almost every single city that Velda will visit in Hoenn, although I am still unsure about Sootopolis and Pacifidlog. Pacifidlog has nothing special other than the Sky Pillar and the possibility of going to Mirage Island, which I have never managed to enter when I played pokemon emerald.**

 **If you are wondering about Velda's possible love interest, I have a possible candidate in mind while I was working on the first chapter of the story. The candidate had already been introduced into this story, and I can continue writing IJWTTTW with or without a romantic partner for Velda. But even if I decide to write about Velda falling in love, it won't happen anytime soon. She's only 11 currently, and have the mindset of an adult. It will be hard for her to adjust to the idea of falling in love with someone from the pokemon world.**

 **I had also updated the chapters before this, correcting any spelling, grammatical and any other form of errors that I can find. The content is still the same, so don't worry about that.**

 **Last but not least, t** **hank you for your support thus far.** **I hope you continue to enjoy IJWTTTW.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Ponyta (Flamel), male**

 **2) Marshtomp (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Shuppet (Dolly), female**

 **4) Trapinch (Snap), male**


	7. Chapter 7- Increasing Firepower

"Thank you so much for your help, dear."

"It's nothing, Mary, it's the least I can do to help. Besides, we had a lot of fun. Is that right, guys?"

My pokemon chorused an agreement, and continued to help Mary in caring for her garden.

We had spent three weeks in the desert, and we were exhausted when we finally got out. We had met Mary shortly after our exit from the desert. She had offered a ride for us on the back of her truck after seeing our state of exhaustion. She drove us to her house in Fallarbor, where we rested and washed up. I don't think I managed to get all the sand out of my hair yet.

Mary is a very helpful person, and she let us stay at her house for as long as we needed to. I had stayed for a week and today is my last day here with her before I continue with my journey. We are currently helping her to tend to the garden at the back of her house.

My team and I actually managed to reach the famed desert ruins with Snap's help in guiding us there.

The desert ruins are _majestic_. That's the only word that I could think of to describe it. Even in destruction, the sight of it is breath-taking.

The only building that remained standing and untouched by the wrath of the desert is a five-story building at the center of the ruins. It is beautiful, and probably a building of great importance if it is built to remain standing after so long. There are beautiful carvings that reminded me a lot of egyptian hieroglyphs from my previous world that is decorated across the interior walls of the buildings. There are also many stone carvings depicting the conflict between humans and pokemon, and an equal amount of carvings portraying them living in peace with each other. It felt like they were telling a story. A story so far back that it was long forgotten by the residents of the world, buried in the sands of time.

I saw a lot more wild pokemon in the ruins then anywhere else in the desert. I guessed that the ruins provided a much better shelter for these pokemon in this unforgiving environment. I was about to leave the ruins when Snap brought me the biggest find I had in the desert.

A fossil. A fossil of a pokemon, to be exact. It looked a lot like a Root Fossil from what I could see, and is amazingly well-preserved.

I squeezed Snap in an excited hug. He had just brought me a prize that is even rarer and harder to win in the Lilycove Department Store lottery.

Pokemon fossils are _priceless_.

The technology to revive prehistoric pokemon from fossils is only recently invented about 10 years ago, and only available to the public 5 years ago, although you need to pay a very hefty fee to enjoy the benefits of such a technology. The technology was first invented by a scientist working in the Cinnabar Lab, and he successfully revived an omanyte back to life. It caught the pokemon scientific and trainer community by surprise, and Blaine, the gym leader of the Cinnabar gym, had to work overtime to protect the scientist and the secrets of the revival technology during the initial period of its news release. However, the revived omanyte died two weeks after its revival, showing that the revival technology is still incomplete.

The PWL was hesitant to approve the continued research to revive prehistoric pokemon. They were afraid that introducing prehistoric pokemon into the world can severely affect the current ecosystems, upsetting the balance that it had been trying to protect for half a millennium. After many debates and researches by the scientific community, it was proven that the revival of prehistoric pokemon would not affect the current ecosystems as it is. Hence, the revival technology was given approval by the PWL to allow its continued research. But it banned the use of such a technology to revive any pokemon that is not a prehistoric pokemon, and gave many other rules and restrictions such that the secrets of such a technology is one of the most guarded secrets in the world.

The original inventor of the revival technology invited accomplished pokemon scientists from all around the world to help in perfecting it. In Hoenn, Devon Corporation held the most number of pokemon scientists, and they sent their best brains to help perfect the research. The revival technology reached its perfection after a few years. The kabuto that they revived, not only survived, but actually managed to evolve into a kabutops. It is still alive and kicking today, and is now entrusted to the capable hands of Brock, the current gym leader of Pewter city, and is one of his best battlers.

Various prehistoric pokemon of different regions were soon revived, and there was a temporary craze in trying to find fossils to revive them. The PWL put a stop to the craze as quickly as it came. A pandemonium is the last thing they need. Still, it did not prevent trainers or archaeologists from finding these extremely rare fossils and revive them. Even Steven have two prehistoric pokemon with him, armaldo and cradily. Both pokemon are native to Hoenn, and is often used in his battles. The only place to revive prehistoric pokemon in Hoenn is at Devon Corporation, as only their scientists have the access to such a technology.

I will have to revive the Root Fossil when I pass by Rustboro after I got my Heat Badge, and then travel back to Petalburg from Rustboro for my fifth gym badge. I can also say a quick hello and visit Roxanne at her gym. I cannot wait to tell her my find. Considering that the lileep evolutionary line is part rock type, Roxanne can also help me in training the sea lily pokemon. I'm not sure if I have the funds necessary to revive it, but my parents will probably be more than willing to fork the money needed for its revival. They did not have a prehistoric pokemon on their farm before and they would be very interested in trying to breed it.

That's how I found another future member of my team. Woohoo!

During the second day of our stay in Mary's house, Snap had evolved into a vibrava. It was not surprising, as he was already showing signs of evolution when we first met, but I did not expect him to evolve _this_ soon.

We spent most of our stay in Mary's house trying to get Snap to acclimatise to its new body. Learning how to fly properly was our top priority. Snap is now the only member on my team that can do true aerial combat, if we exclude Dolly's ability to levitate herself from the ground. Snap is now trying to learn the more delicate parts of flying by attempting to properly water Mary's plants by hanging a watering can from his feet while flying slowly past them in Mary's small garden.

Training does not have to be done through battles alone, there are many ways to incorporate training into our everyday lives if you are creative enough.

While I was replanting some of the potted plants, my attention turned to the newest addition to my pokemon team who joined after Snap. We met her while Mary and I were climbing the Meteor Falls.

My absol, Kelsa, is the fifth member to join my team four days ago. I usually address her as Kel, which is the short form of her name. In my previous world, Kelsa is a name that means "brave" in certain parts of the world, and I chose that name for her when she joined my team. She accepted the name after I explained the reason behind that name, without the part of me being a reincarnated soul.

When Mary and I first met Kel, she was anxiously trying to warn us of something. She did not let us advance further into the depths of Meteor Falls, and chased us off with blasts of Hyper Beam. It was only when she chased us near to the foot of Meteor Falls that a loud crashed reverberated throughout the mountain.

Kelsa had just saved us from a rock slide.

Kelsa is brave. Despite being misunderstood by humans for bringing about disasters, she still tried to warn us despite the danger of appearing before humans. It was only recently proven, with the help of Elite Four Sidney, a Dark Specialist, that the absol species are not the ones who are responsible for disasters that happened shortly after their sightings. Their appearance is merely a foretelling of an approaching calamity. However, not many people believed the claim, and followed the old superstition that many of the older generations have about the absol species. Absols tend to stay far away from humans as a result from the generations of misunderstanding they experienced from humans. It does not help matters that their horns are highly valued in the black market, which resulted in illegal poaching of their species.

That's why I felt that Kel is brave for trying to warn us, and that she deserved her name. She had everything to lose and nothing to gain in trying to warn us, but she still did what she thought was right.

Mary and I thanked her profusely in saving our lives. For some reason, Kel decided to follow us back to Mary's home. None of us minded, but her reason in choosing to follow us still eluded us.

She willingly let herself get sucked into one of my empty pokeballs, without any warning, that same night.

Kel is a little aloof. She can get along with the team perfectly fine, but prefers to spend her time by my side. She does not communicate much, she just follows me around and provides silent company during our time together. Kel is also a little shy when it comes to physical contact, but got used to it quickly enough. She also can be a little vain, and spent a significant amount of her free time grooming herself. Kel also preferred not to battle, despite being a capable and vicious battler. Given her preferences in regards to pokemon battles, I was surprised that she did not mind training with us. Furthermore, she does not shy away from any battles that I chose to let her take part in. She helped me with a few trainer battles during the week I was in Fallarbor, and won every single one of them effortlessly. She just preferred not to get involved in battles if she is not needed. I am fine with her preferences, and tried to respect her wish in not using her in battles that I do not need her help with.

On the last day of our stay in Fallarbor, Flamel, Bigblue and Dolly played a prank on Snap and Kel as an initiation program to welcome the both of them into our team. It is a simple and harmless prank. Dolly merely tripped Kel, who fell on Snap, who was resting on the ground. Bigblue sprayed them with mud to end off the prank. Snap simply retaliated with a half-hearted spray of Sand-Attack. Kel gave a furious scowl, she wasn't pleased with getting her well-groomed fur all dirtied.

I have to defuse the situation by getting Bigblue to wash off the mud on Kel and then asked for Flamel's help in drying Kel using the heat from his flames. I then personally groomed Kel's fur with a brush designed for grooming pokemon. Kel seemed to enjoy it, and I decided to give Kel more grooming sessions whenever I have the time. After many apologies from the three pranksters, Kel seemed to accept the idea of a tradition in pranking future new members of our team. I felt a little sorry for our future members, even if I have not met them yet. Dark type pokemons are known for their sadistic and vindictive streak. Their next victims are not going to have a fun time.

After spending a week in ash-filled Fallarbor, I exchanged my farewells with Mary, and we continued our journey to Lavaridge.

* * *

I spent a night at a daycare center which is located on Route 113 after leaving Fallarbor. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Lucy, the elders who ran the daycare center, were generous enough to offer me a place to stay for the night when they saw me wandering along Route 113 in the evening looking for a place to rest. We had a light supper, and talked about ourselves. I talked about my adventures thus far, sharing the exciting bits of it. They shared their experience on raising pokemon, and their journeys as a pokemon trainer before they decided to drop out of the gym circuit to open a pokemon daycare center together. The topic of discussion soon turned to some of the rare pokemons that the elders had raised while running the daycare center.

"The beldum that we helped raised 10 years back, while rare, is not the hardest pokemon we helped to raise on the farm. The most troublesome pokemon is definitely the magmar that we have on hand now."

"A magmar? Isn't that rare? They are hardly seen, even in their native regions. How did you get one in Hoenn?"

"We helped a trainer raised a magmar before, and it left an egg here. The trainer traded that egg in for a discount for our services, and that's how we got a magmar's egg. The egg hatched into a magby. It might be a little clumsy, but it did not give us any problems initially. The problem happened when it finally evolved about a month ago." Bob explained. "We were happy at the thought of having a wider variety of pokemon on our farm, and that it might allow us to branch out into the pokemon breeding business. But the magmar is more trouble than it's worth. The moment it evolved from a magby into a magmar, it turned very aggressive. It will constantly light things on fire and challenge every pokemon we have on our farm. The amount of property damage the magmar caused is unbelievable." Bob ended his speech with a shake of his head.

"We wanted to find a trainer to sell it to, but there are very little trainers that pass by here to Fallarbor to begin with. Fallarbor is not a part of the gym circuit, and trainers do not need to pass by this area unless they want to. Among the trainers that pass by here, none of them have the ability to handle magmar, most of them only have three to four badges on them." Lucy sighed. "We are even giving a huge discount to sell magmar, but the location of our daycare is too far for most accomplished trainers to even consider coming here to have a look despite knowing that there is a discount."

"Long story short, we have a troublesome magmar that is a walking hazard to our daycare center, but we are unable to sell it. We are stuck in a dilemma." Bob crossed his arms and huffed.

I was sitting on the tatami mats in Bob's and Lucy's living room. I absently stroked Kel's fur, who had took to sitting quietly beside me and laid her head on my lap. Dolly is in the building somewhere while the rest of my team are in their pokeballs. I tried to remember as much as possible about the magmar species. They are native to the Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh regions, and even then they are rare. This is because they tend to live in the most dangerous of locations, such as a living volcano or insurmountable mountains. Despite their weird appearances, magmars are smart, and they can be as cunning as dark type pokemons. They are also relentless in battle, and will not rest even if you put them down. They will simply get back up and keep fighting until they defeat their opponents or they are truly and thoroughly defeated. Wild magmars are vicious, and tend to kill anything that comes near their territory. You will need to be at least an advanced trainer to even attempt at training a magmar.

So if the trainer is question is at least an advanced trainer in skill level or higher...

"Grandpa Bob, Grandma Lucy, is it possible for me to have a look at the magmar? I have a trainer in mind who is capable of taming it. I will buy it for you if I deem it suitable for the trainer."

Grandpa Bob waved his hand worriedly in front of his chest. "That magmar is dangerous, Velda. We don't even let it out other than for its meal times or to let it stretch its legs to keep it healthy. If it suddenly gets bloodthirsty..."

"I am a trainer who earned all three of my gym badges by defeating the gym leaders in battle. My pokemon are more than capable of defending me from an untrained magmar. It may be your only chance of getting rid of that magmar of yours." I paused, trying to think of a way to convince the elders to let me see the magmar. "The trainer I have in mind is an ACE operative, by the way, so you would not have to worry about his abilities in taming magmar."

The last sentence is all it took to convince them to let me take a look at their magmar.

* * *

I cannot help but laugh at magmar's antics when I first saw it.

The elders let it out a far distance away from us. It did not bother about us when it first appeared, and proceeded to wander around the enclosure it was released in. But within five minutes of its release, it managed to trip on its feet 7 times, accidentally set something on fire 5 times, fell into the _same_ hole on the ground 3 times, and hit its head on the _same_ boulder 4 times.

Nineteen different incidents in the span of five minutes since its release from its pokeball, this magmar is a genius.

The magmar is also a certified trouble magnet, much like a certain someone I know. They will be such a _perfect_ fit together.

With Bob's and Lucy's permission, I released my entire team out of their pokeballs and we entered magmar's enclosure together. We walked towards the magmar, with my pokemon forming a protective circle around me. I wanted to test the magmar's capabilities in battle before deciding to buy it.

Magmar instantly attacked us the moment it spotted us walking towards its location.

The magmar is clearly not trained for battle. It only relied on its instinct to fight and tried to force its way with brute strength alone. Bigblue and Dolly had fun toying with him while the rest of us watched a safe distance away. I got bored after I finished assessing magmar's capabilities.

"Snap, end it with a Sand Tomb."

Snap buzzed and rose into the air before joining in the battle. With a mighty flap of its wings, a large cyclone of sand was conjured with magmar as its epicenter. Bigblue cooperated with Snap by loosening the soil around magmar with a combination of rock and ground type techniques. The entire area around magmar was turned into quicksand which magmar quickly sank into until only its head can be seen. Dolly cackled loudly at the sight.

The magmar stared at me with visible hatred in its eyes. It tried to blast me with a burst of flames from its mouth, only for a large slab of stone to rise from the ground and prevented the stream of flames from reaching me, courtesy of Bigblue.

"Thank you, Bigblue, Snap, Dolly." I said sweetly to the three of them, who felt refreshed from a nice workout. I turned to Flamel. "Don't you think this magmar is the pokemon version of Vance? Both are clumsy and a trouble magnet, and they both have a love for battling. What do you say if we get magmar as an early birthday present for Vance? His birthday is about a month from now. I wonder if he will love it?" I could not keep the glee out from my voice, this gift is _too suitable_ for Vance.

Flamel gave a snort and voiced his agreement by slamming his front left hoof into the ground.

I turned back to Bob and Lucy. "Grandpa Bob! Grandma Lucy! How much are you willing to sell magmar for?"

* * *

"Are you sure that this is a good idea, Velda?"

"I am sure, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Lucy, don't worry about it."

After a night of discussion, Bob and Lucy decided to sell magmar to me the next morning. I pressed a wad of cash worth 8,000 pokedollars into Bob's hands, and took magmar's pokeball from Bob. The price I paid was the final price after accounting for a more than 50% discount of the original selling price on the elders' part, and it was still so freaking expensive.

Magmars are just that rare.

"The pokeball transfer system is over there." Lucy pointed to a machine sitting by the far side of the room at the corner of a wall, opposite the counter where they do business with their clients. "You just need to key in the trainer ID of the trainer that you are going to send magmar to. Please inform the trainer that the magmar is a male, the males of their species are usually more aggressive than the females, and it needs to be handled with extreme caution."

"I will." I replied as I placed magmar's pokeball on the pokeball holder of the transfer system, and keyed in Vance's trainer ID. I watched the pokeball vanished in a burst of light before sending a quick message to Vance using my xtransceiver to inform him that the pokemon I just sent is an early birthday present for him. I cannot wait to see the look on Vance's face the next time we video call each other.

* * *

"A magmar. You sent me a _magmar_." Vance deadpanned.

Vance was currently in a training field from what I could see in the video call.

"Yes brother dear, don't you _love_ it? I spent quite a lot of money on this magmar for you, do you know that? Isn't it just _adorable_? I knew I found the _perfect_ gift for you when I saw him. He is the pokemon version of you, I cannot think of anything more _suitable_ than him for your birthday present." I replied with the sweetest voice I can manage and pasted the most innocent smile on my face, making sure to stress the important words. I am enjoying this _way_ too much.

"How is this a suitable birthday present?! You sent me a magmar, who thought that challenging my salamence the moment he is out of his pokeball, a trained _dragon_ , was the smartest decision! You sent me a magmar, who keeps lighting random things on fire every few minutes, and walrein is absolutely pissed at trying to do damage control! You sent me a magmar, who keeps colliding into things the moment I turned my attention away from it! I even checked his eyesight, and it is working perfectly! This magmar is a trouble magnet!"

" _You_ are a trouble magnet, and you don't see me and Macky complain as much. Accept it, you and magmar are a match made in heaven."

I heard laughters from the other side of the video call, and saw Vance turned away from his xtransceiver to tell his colleagues to shut up.

"Seriously though, your team lacks a strong fire type. Magmar is definitely strong enough to fill that role the moment he finishes the training you put him through and evolve into a magmortar. You are an ACE operative. Your pokemon are more than capable of keeping him in line if he gets rowdy. I would not have gotten magmar for you if I don't believe that he will be an asset to you in the future." I said seriously. "I would have try to get a magmarizer for you as well, but those are hard to find. You would probably have an easier time finding those using your status as an ACE operative."

Vance was about to reply when a loud crash was heard from Vance's side of the video call, followed by a shout of ' _Flaming tauros shit, control your damn magmar Vance!'_ I could hear a salamence's angry roar and Macky's cackle, before hearing an even louder explosion. I could see Vance ducking suddenly behind a boulder to avoid a stream of fire, and immediately jumped out of the way when a huge jet of water burst from outside my vision from the opposite direction to fight the fire. This is the mayhem that I could see from the limited vision of the video call alone. I can only wonder what else is happening that isn't captured from the point of view of Vance's xtransceiver.

Vance groaned and placed his palm on his forehead. "I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"

"Yes you do, brother dear. Yes you do."

* * *

It took me another three days by travelling through Fiery Path and riding the cable car for me to reach Lavaridge Town.

Lavaridge is one of the smaller towns in Hoenn, due to the fact that it was built on the side of a volcano. Despite the small size, the people of Lavaridge managed to earn their fortune by taking the full advantage of living near a dormant volcano. The soil around Mt Chimney are the most fertile soil in all of Hoenn, their mineral content outstripping even those of Verdanturf and Fallarbor. Many farmers have made their home here, where they grow the best herbs and agriculture produce. The locals of Lavaridge even managed to tap onto the geothermal energy provided by Mt Chimney, and it is how 70% of the town's electricity is derived from. There are many hot springs surrounding Mt Chimney, which turns Lavaridge into a popular tourist attraction where many people flock to from all around the world.

I quickly booked a room at the pokemon center upon arrival and made my way to the hot springs at the back of the building. The hot springs is divided into two sections, one for males and the other for females. I stripped myself naked and dipped into the warm waters of the female section of the hot springs. While relaxing in the hot springs, I researched about the pokemons that Flannery, the Lavaridge gym leader, is known to use against challengers on the internet forums using my xtransceiver. From what I could find out, her most commonly used pokemon are torkoal, camerupt, numel, slugma, houndoom, ponyta, magcargo, and a growlithe.

Damn, that is a lot of pokemon to prepare for. Some of them are not even from Hoenn.

This gym battle would be on a level of an intermediate trainer. Flannery is known to challenge intermediate trainers to a 4 vs 4 pokemon battle. I would definitely use Bigblue and Snap in the gym battle, their skill sets are suited for this. Dolly would do well in this gym battle provided that she managed to increase her offensive powers. Flamel can probably hold his ground against the gym trainers, but I am unsure if I should use a fire type against a gym leader who is a Fire Specialist. This means that I would have to ask Kel to battle for me. However, my plan still have one missing key component for us to successfully complete this gym battle.

Power. My pokemon needs more power. More specifically, they need the power that comes from _evolution_.

Lavaridge's gym challenge is designed to be completed by intermediate trainers. Most of these trainers would have at least three fully evolved pokemon by the time they try to challenge the fourth gym in the gym circuit.

None of my pokemon have reached that state of their evolution. The only pokemon on my team that have evolved so far are Bigblue and Snap.

Snap had just evolved, and I'm not sure if he can evolve further anytime soon. I would need to do more research or ask around if anyone knew about the evolutionary process of vibravas. Bigblue, Dolly and Flamel should be ready to evolve soon, all they need is more training to properly induce the process of evolution. Kel cannot naturally evolve unless you count mega evolution into the equation.

Speaking of which, I wonder if mega evolution is possible in this world. No matter how much I research about this issue, I cannot seem to find any records or studies on mega evolution. It is like mega evolution is not present in this world. Is it because mega evolution has not been discovered yet? Or is it because it is a big secret in this world? Maybe I am in an alternate universe of pokemon where mega evolution simply didn't exist? Which pokemon universe was I reborn into anyway? Is it the game, anime, or another totally different universe?

That is another thought for another day.

If my luck with gym leader battles remained as shitty as what it used to be, I would most likely be facing the fully evolved pokemons on her team. That means that I have a high chance of facing her camerupt, houndoom and magcargo, together with another of her pokemon, which I think would most likely be her torkoal. Those would be the main opposition that I should be preparing my team against.

I frowned. This is not going to be an easy battle.

Getting out of the hot springs and wrapping my naked body with a towel, I made my way to the ladies' changing room to get dressed. Time's a ticking and I should spend every waking moment thinking of ways to complete this gym challenge.

I need Flamel, Bigblue, and Dolly to reach their final evolutionary forms. They should have evolved a long time ago if we weren't so slack in our training. I need their power that their evolutions will bring, and I know that they have been looking forward to evolve into their final forms.

They have done so much to help me on my journey, it is time I do something to help them.

* * *

I quickly drafted up training plans for each of my pokemon on our first night in Lavaridge. We will spend the mornings doing individual trainings, where each of my pokemon will focus on different things to train on. Our afternoons will be spent looking for trainers to do trainer battles with. I am _broke_ , after purchasing magmar from Bob and Lucy for Vance, there is an imperative need for us to earn money quickly. We will spend some time at night training at Fiery Path, which is located near Lavaridge outside of the town, to get ourselves used to the heat. I had heard from the nurses at Lavaridge's pokemon center that the interior of Lavaridge gym is steaming hot, and it would be best for challengers to get themselves acclimatised to the heat together with their pokemon. Fiery Path provides a close imitation to the kind of heat that we would be experiencing for our gym challenge.

The most abnormal information that I have learnt from the nurses is that challengers have to use the _geysers_ in the gym to navigate through the maze in the Lavaridge gym.

I will never understand the obsession that gym leaders have with mazes.

Training in Fiery Path was the hardest training we had done so far. Everything got affected when we tried our mock battles against each other, from the speed of their attacks, the power behind it, their reaction time, to our physical stamina. While I had expected to face some difficulties, I have no idea that battling in harsh environments can have such drastic impacts in our performance in battle. To make things worse, I have to take frequent breaks every now and then as my weak body cannot handle the stress of conducting strenuous trainings in harsh environments, and I settled for barking commands to my pokemon while I rested on a cool slab of rock that Bigblue had raised for me.

It is times like these that I wish that I could have a healthy body. It feels wrong to be resting while the rest of my team are hard at work.

We kept up with the training, and by the end of the second week of training, there are visible results. The performance of my pokemon in the mock battles that they participated against each other got a lot better. Outside of Fiery Path, they hit harder, got faster, and lasted longer in battles and trainings. They decimated most of the intermediate trainers that we can find in and around Lavaridge, and I had finished earning back the 8,000 pokedollars that I used to purchase magmar.

My pokemon are also starting to show obvious signs of impending evolution. It would not be long for them to reach the power necessary to induce a successful evolution.

We continued the training. This time, I changed the location of the training we did in the mornings to be conducted in Fiery Path. The harsh training that we put ourselves in had done me some good as well. My physical health and stamina had improved, and I could go on longer in helping to train my pokemon without needing to rest as often. It is a slight improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

Bigblue was the first to evolve after a month of training in Fiery Path. It is a beautiful process, and I could never stop staring at the process of evolution that my pokemon went through no matter how many times I had seen it before. Bigblue had just defeated a pack of wild machops in Fiery Path before he suddenly gave a loud bellow, and began to glow a blinding white. He transformed before my very eyes. He grew larger, his head fin splitting into two and fitting perfectly on both sides of his head. His limbs grew thicker, and he continued to grow until he towers over me. When the light died down, Bigblue was staring at his new body, trying to inspect the changes to his anatomy. He tried to give a nearby boulder a punch, and it shattered without much effort. He gave a happy roar of delight as I ran up closer to him together with the rest of my pokemon to inspect him better. As I ran my hands over his new body, I could not help but remember the times when I carried him in my arms when he was still a mudkip a few months ago.

They grew up so fast.

Flamel and Dolly both evolved into their final forms a few days later. Flamel did not have problems adjusting quickly to his new body since it does not have any major change other than him growing larger and the addition of a horn on his head. Dolly spent two days trying to adjust to the idea that she now have limbs to use.

What surprised us is that Snap evolved _again_ merely a day after Dolly evolved.

I think it was a surprise to Snap as well. I just finished his training with him in trying to perfect his ground type moves when he suddenly turned around and buzzed uncontrollably. The buzz was so loud that I thought that we were about to be attacked by a large group of wild pokemon, and I was about to send out a command to the team to hightail out of the area until Snap started to glow white. By the end of the process, a large flygon was staring at me while I stared back at him with awe-struck eyes.

Snap's evolution set our schedule back by another week as we gave him time to adjust to his new body and powers. Thankfully, I had earned a lot of money from the trainer battles in Lavaridge so I did not need to worry about paying the fees for using the rooms in the pokemon center.

My team now made a very impressive sight. Trainers who were passing through or training at Fiery Path will give me a wide berth when they saw me walking together with a rapidash, swampert, banette, flygon, and an absol. I will probably do the same thing if I was in their shoes, to be honest.

I gave ourselves three days of rest before we attempted the Lavaridge gym challenge. We explored the town, climbed Mt Chimney, and relaxed in the hot springs. Sadly, none of my pokemon could appreciate the sensation of relaxing in the hot springs. Flamel disliked water while Bigblue and Dolly didn't like the heat even if they are able to tolerate it. Snap would prefer drinking the water from the hot springs instead of bathing in it, and Kel absolutely hated getting wet unless I gave her a bath followed by a grooming session. Our three days of R&R was fun, and we grew closer to each other as a team. Dolly kept trying to tell me something when we were climbing Mt Chimney, but I really couldn't understand what she was trying to say. She kept doing some wild gestures with her limbs and pointed at a cliff on the side of the volcano that we were climbing. I could not find anything wrong with it.

Now that I think about it, could the cliff be the entrance to Team Magma's base? In the games from my previous world, Team Magma built a base on Mt Chimney if I recall correctly. But is it possible for them to even build a base _in_ a volcano in real life? They will just get cooked alive.

Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I sunk myself lower into the hot springs as Kel lounged around at the edge of it. Fighting criminal organisations is way out of my league. No 11 years old can hope to take on the base of a criminal organisation and expect to come out alive. Besides, building a base in a volcano sounds like a stupid idea no matter how fanatical they are in trying to summon Groudon. My mind returned back to my pokemon. Dolly was resting in a cupboard in the room we rented in the pokemon center. The rest of my pokemon had gotten too big to fit indoors so I kept them in their pokeballs. Kel is helping me to look after my belongings with a watchful eye.

I exited the hot springs after another 10 minutes. I quickly dried myself and got dressed before heading back to my room. We are going to challenge the gym tomorrow, and I need to run through our plans a few more times before I turned in for the night.

It is time to get our Heat Badge.

* * *

 **AN: I just found out a few days ago that there will be a Gen 8 for the pokemon franchise and my first feelings were 'what?'. I know I was slow regarding updates on the pokemon franchise since the news was first release around May or June earlier this year. Still, I don't think that I will be able to incorporate another region into this story given how I had built the pokemon world in IJWTTTW, unless the canon story of Gen 8 gave me some leeway to weave it in. I doubt that will be happening, so you guys probably won't see any Gen 8 pokemon or the new region. I apologise in advance if you were expecting it.**

 **If any of you are wondering if there will be any villains in this story, yes, there will be. Team Magma and Team Aqua will be the future villains in this story even if they wouldn't be making any active appearances yet. I don't think I will let Velda take an active role in fighting against them. It just seemed stupid to me that an 11 years old can take on an entire criminal organisation and win. It is just not possible. This kind of things is what you leave your government to deal with. If the government can't deal with it, then the taxpayers are wasting their money on them.**

 **On a side note, there are questions on why I chose to write from the pov of a reincarnated oc, since I could simply write about an oc from the pokemon world given how passive my mc is on her journey. I would like to clarify that even if you have the ability to change things based on the prior knowledge from your previous life, it does not mean that you _have_ to change things. If I was reincarnated into another world that I had read about in my life here, I can choose to try and change things, or simply watched as things play out for themselves. People always have a choice, and sometimes we can simply choose to do nothing. Besides, there is no motivation for Velda in this story to try and change things. The pokemon world is currently experiencing a time of peace. I still think the question is a good question though, as it got me thinking on what _exactly_ do I want to do with Velda's status as an reincarnated oc. I thank you for asking.**

 **The purpose of this chapter is kind of like a time-skip arc you see so often in mangas. I need Velda to gain more power by having more pokemon with her and to finally allow some of her pokemon to evolve. Velda's progress is mainly based on my experience with pokemon emerald, and I remembered that most of my pokemon would have fully evolved around this time. Hence, the need for a time-skip arc.**

 **The plot of IJWTTTW will be picking up soon, probably somewhere between the 10th to 20th chapters if I estimate correctly. If you want to see something exciting, please be patient. I will try to churn out chapters as fast as I can, but my main priority is to ensure that the quality of each chapter is not adversely affected in my haste to write them out.**

 **Last but not least, I hope that you enjoyed reading this chapter.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **Vance Vera, Age: 18, Male, ACE operative and second-in-command to his ACE squad, older brother to Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gengar (Macky), male**

 **2) Sceptile**

 **3) Salamence**

 **4) Metagross**

 **5) Gallade**

 **6) Walrein**

 **7) Electivire**

 **8) Weavile**

 **9) Magmar**


	8. Chapter 8- Trial By Fire

I'm starting to really hate mazes.

I know from the nurses at Lavaridge's pokemon center that solving the maze requires the use of geysers, but I didn't expect to travel through the maze _via_ geysers.

I cannot remember how was the Lavaridge gym like from pokemon emerald since I last played it so many years ago, and my memories from my previous life is starting to get fuzzy, but I certainly hoped that it wasn't like _this_.

Firstly, the interior of the gym is steaming hot. I could probably cook an egg simply by cracking it and let it cook itself if I let it rest on the floor of the gym. The worst part of the gym is that I have to navigate through the gym by climbing down the holes on the gym floor into the basement of the building, or I have to get up from the basement by letting the geysers at the basement _shoot_ me up onto the first floor. The travelling via geysers part wasn't fun at all, and my body is starting to feel the stress from all the shootings that the geysers have subjected me to. I really want to find Flannery and wallop her on the head for thinking of this stupid idea. I can understand if she wants to subject the interior of the gym with extreme heat. But this travelling method is not suitable for anyone with a weak constitution and is really frickin' dangerous.

Let's also not forget about the various gym trainers that I have to face when attempting this gym challenge.

I wanted to ask them for clues on how to get to the gym leader as fast as possible, but they all kept mum about it. I'm willing to bet that they are having their fun by watching challengers getting shot into the air and secretly laughing their ass off while doing it.

I had my revenge by stomping them into the ground with Flamel in our battles. I'm petty like that.

I was forced to take a break at the 15 min mark after getting shot into the air at least about 7 times. My heartbeats are getting erratic and my breaths are getting shorter. I leaned against a wall as I put my right hand over my left chest where my heart is, trying to ensure that I wouldn't black out. At this rate I would collapse even before I reached Flannery. Stupid fucking geysers, this wouldn't be a problem if only I could travel through walls.

Travel through walls.

Travel _through_ walls.

I let Dolly out of her pokeball. She chattered excitedly while looking around, expecting a fight. She would fight later, right now I need to see if she could pull off what I just thought of.

"Dolly, do you think we can travel through the walls using the shadows?"

Dolly nodded her head in excitement, and I grinned while patting her on the head. The moment Dolly evolved into a banette, her powers with ghost type techniques and utilising shadows increased exponentially. The first thing she did after she evolved and mastered her newfound powers during our training in Fiery Path was to envelope me using my own shadows. The next thing I knew, I was outside at the entrance of Fiery Path with her. I later found out that what Dolly did is a variation of Shadow Sneak, something that only fully evolved ghost types are known to do. It is basically a short range teleportation through the shadows. She had gained enough power as a banette to bring along a passenger with Shadow Sneak, in this case, me.

Fuck the geysers, screw the walls, this whole stupid geyser-maze thing can go to hell for all I care. I have Dolly with me who can teleport me around the gym using the shadows.

"Let's go, Dolly. We need to find and challenge the gym leader."

With a hollow laugh, Dolly got close to me and commanded the shadows to embrace us.

* * *

After Shadow Sneak-ing into a few rooms and fighting off another three gym trainers later, we arrived at the final room that was supposed to be the end of the maze, and where I will challenge Flannery in a gym battle.

The room was empty, but there is a big red button at the challenger's box at the arena with an even bigger and obnoxious sign that read _'Press me if you need me! -Flannery'_ pasted above the red button.

I punched the button with a vengeance.

Flannery appeared about two minutes later, looking a little disheveled. She bounced into the arena and greeted me energetically. "Morning challenger! It's a good day for a battle isn't it? Did you enjoy your time in the gym? Travelling using geysers is pretty fun, don't you think?"

I scowled. I was ready to let bygones be bygones but she just have to bring it up doesn't she?

"That geyser stunt of yours was _fucking dangerous_ , in my opinion." I rarely swore in front of others, but this idea of hers deserved my rage. "People could have _died_ if the geyser shot us into the ceiling instead of the hole in it, or if their body isn't fit enough to handle the stress that the geysers put onto their body. Like _me_ , for example." I hissed at her. " I nearly collapsed in this stupid gym of yours because my body was born with some sort of deficiency and cannot handle the stress from travelling by using the geysers. I know that each gym challenge is subjected to some sort of security check by the league to ensure that the gym challenge is safe enough for challengers to handle. I don't know how you got past it, and I can't be the only one to find this dangerous. But if I died here, you will have the full wrath of the Vera family on _your_ head. I hope you are prepared for it." I have never used my family's name to threaten anyone before, but Flannery's stupid idea deserved this treatment.

"Chill...chill..." Flannery held her hands up in a placating manner. "I only just managed to finish revamping the interior of the gym a week ago since I was always so busy with gym leader duties despite taking on the position a year before. I am still in the process of testing it. I wasn't expecting the feedback to be this...negative..." Her voice got softer and softer towards the end, and she hung her head dejectedly. "I'm sorry. You are right. I should have considered that geysers is not a suitable mode of transportation for everyone." She looked at me with a wince on her face. "Please don't send a letter of complaint to the league? I will get this sorted out as fast as possible."

I closed my eyes and sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. I don't think Flannery is a bad person. She just have stupid ideas. I just hope that she do not come up with such ideas as often as Vance does.

I waved off her apology. "I'm still alive, so it's fine. Let's just get on with the gym battle." I placed my Pokedex on the digital panel for registration and began to run through my plans for this gym battle in my mind one last time. Flannery still looked a little skittish throughout the entire process, I might have gone a little overboard with my rant.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you. It's just that I really had a close encounter with fainting in the gym after getting shot so many times by the geysers, and my body cannot handle the stress as it is a lot weaker than those of an average person. That was why I was so upset. Is everything...uh...fine? Between us I mean."

"No, no! I mean YES! Everything is fine between us! I just wanted everyone to experience the fun to travel via geysers so I designed the gym as such, but I guess I forgot that not everyone is suited for it." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, just as a loud beeping sound rang from the computer system. "The registration process is complete, this battle shall be a 4 vs 4 single battle with both sides being able to use a maximum of 4 pokemon. Shall we start our battle?"

My response was to visibly palmed a pokeball in my hand, ready to launch it at a moment's notice. Flannery followed suit.

Let the battle begin.

* * *

My luck with gym leader battles remained as shitty as ever.

When I was making plans for this battle a few weeks back, I was thinking of who to use as my lead pokemon in this battle. Dolly would be a good choice. Her sneakiness and the wide range of moves that she have at her disposal makes her an ideal candidate.

The problem is Flannery is known to use a houndoom for the gym challenge at an intermediate level. If she so happens to choose houndoom as her lead pokemon, Dolly would get her head chewed off. Kel does not know any moves that can effectively counter houndoom. It would not be wise to use Flamel against a Fire Specialist. That leaves me with using either Bigblue or Snap to use as a lead pokemon. I decided to use Snap as my lead pokemon for this battle. The other gym leaders would have known about Bigblue by now and would probably be expecting him. They would not be expecting Snap since he only joined us after our previous gym challenge. Similar to Kel, he is an unknown to them.

When Flannery summoned her houndoom to battle, I was very glad that I did not decide to use Dolly as my lead pokemon for this gym battle.

"Snap, Rock Slide!"

With a draconic roar, Snap took off into the air and summoned an avalanche of rocks onto houndoom's location. Houndoom dodged the rocks and weaved itself across the arena sending blasts of fire at Snap. Snap evaded houndoom's attacks and fired Dragon Breaths at it. Houndoom slowly gained speed and got closer to where Snap was during the exchange.

I gripped tightly onto the handrails as I gave out my next command.

"Use Earthquake! Break its momentum!"

Snap dropped from the air and slammed itself onto the ground, causing the whole arena to shake violently. Houndoom gave a yelp as he fell onto the ground from Earthquake, trying to get onto its feet but only to find itself slamming into the unstable ground again. I saw Flannery fall onto her back from the unexpected Earthquake.

I hope that this building is earthquake-proofed as per the league's regulations when it comes to building infrastructures meant for pokemon battles. I have no desire to be buried in rubble. With houndoom now a sitting duck from the Earthquake, it is good time to follow up my attack and press on my advantage.

"Snap! Laser Breath!"

Laser Breath is a combo that we came up with. It combines both Laser Focus and Dragon Breath. Snap is capable of using more combos with Laser Focus as a prior setup, but he is most proficient with combining Dragon Breath with Laser Focus, and Laser Breath is the Laser Focus combo that requires the least time for him to execute.

Snap shot a powerful breath of draconic fire onto houndoom, who screamed in pain. It is still not down for the count as it shrugged off the powerful attack.

"Reversal!"

With a howl, houndoom gained a sudden burst of speed and dashed towards Snap. It slammed into Snap with a war cry and sent Snap crashing onto the psychic barriers on the edge of the arena, inflicting a lot of damage on Snap.

"Now, while it's down! Inferno!"

Houndoom unleashed a wall of raging flames that spanned across the width of the arena and sent it in Snap's direction. There is no escaping this attack.

"Snap! Hurry and use Protect!"

Snap quickly got onto his feet and brought out a greenish energy shield just in time for the flames of houndoom's Inferno to come crashing into it. I suddenly regret not buying more TMs after I bought the Protect TM. We would have more options and Snap would not have been forced into a corner. I will need to rectify that after this gym battle.

"Sandstorm! Follow it up with a Sand Tomb!"

With a single flap of its wings, Snap summoned a wave of raging sand that engulfed the whole arena, suffocating the flames. He slammed his right foot on the ground and a tornado made of sand barreled into houndoom, trapping it inside the Sand Tomb.

"Earth Power! Loosen the ground!"

Inspired by how Snap and Bigblue used to work together to previously trap magmar into a man-made quicksand, I managed to train Snap to achieve the same effect by using Earth Power to loosen the sand. Sand Tomb can be used before or after Earth Power to turn the area around it into quicksand. It is a trapping tactic that is currently only available to Snap.

Snap's eyes glowed an eerie red as the earth around houndoom suddenly loosened and it sank into the ground. It snarled and howled as it tried to claw its way out of the death trap. Snap flew high as we prepared for the coup de grace.

"Laser Beam!"

Snap's eyes briefly glowed again, and he proceeded to form an orange ball of condensed energy in its mouth. The ball of condensed energy was then blasted towards houndoom and resulted in a violent explosion.

Laser Focus and Hyper Beam made a wonderful combination, too bad we can't use it often due to how much energy it took to even pull this off.

As the sandstorm died down, houndoom laid unconscious in a crater. Flannery swiftly recalled houndoom back to its pokeball before sending out her next pokemon.

"Camerupt, Eruption!"

Camerupt bellowed, and he sent large chunks of flaming rocks from the mini volcanoes on his back in Snap's directions. There is too many to be safely avoided and I quickly barked at Snap to use Protect to shield himself from the worst of it before recalling him back to his pokeball.

I took a split-second to contemplate on who to use next against Flannery's camerupt. On first sight, Bigblue seemed like the best choice. His water techniques will be two times more effective on camerupt given its dual fire and ground type typing. However, camerupt is known to be able to learn how to use Solar Beam, and it will be disastrous for Bigblue to take that move head on. This is a battle on the level of an intermediate trainer. There is _no_ way that Flannery will have no counters to water type pokemons in her gym, that camerupt of hers _have_ to know the move Solar Beam, and probably Sunny Day as well to pull a combo with it.

With that consideration in mind, I decided to send out Dolly against camerupt.

"Dolly! Anti-tank maneuvers!"

Dolly cackled as she dashed into the shadows and reappeared from camerupt's own shadow. She injected a nasty dose of Toxic into camerupt's bloodstream and followed up with a Hex to its face. Camerupt roared in pain and retaliated with a Flame Burst, trying to light Dolly on fire. Dolly dove back into the shadows to escape the flames. Anti-tank maneuvers are basically a list of moves and combo that I told Dolly to use in order to take out troublesome foes that will be hard to put down otherwise. The list of moves in the Anti-tank maneuvers are mostly moves with DOT (damage over time) effects. Such moves include Toxic and Will-O-Wisp, although I banned the use of Curse unless I gave explicit permission due to the danger of using that move. All she has to do is to inflict a DOT move on her opponent while trying to damage them as much as possible without overextending herself in battles. The best case scenario will be for Dolly's opponent to fall from prolonged exposure to the DOT move while we waited for it to happen.

"Camerupt, use Earthquake!"

Camerupt stood on its hind legs, before slamming its front legs onto the ground when it fell to the ground once more. The whole building shook once again and this time it was me who fell onto my back. Dolly screamed out in pain as it was forced out of the shadows from Earthquake. Shit, I did not know that the shadows did not prevent Dolly from taking damage from moves like Earthquake. Dolly had took a lot of damage from that move.

Camerupt is not faring much better, it is still trying to fight through the pain from Toxic.

"Camerupt, use Rest followed by Sleep Talk!"

Lucky me! This is our chance to turn things around to our advantage. "Dolly, Snatch!"

A dark miasma that originated from Dolly quickly latched itself onto the sleeping camerupt. Camerupt was abruptly woken from its self-induced sleep, looking very confused. Dolly's wounds healed before my very eyes as she used the effect of the stolen recovery move on herself. She quickly sent a barrage of Shadow Balls at camerupt as payback for the Earthquake that was used on her.

Flannery audibly 'tch-ed' and she shouted out her next command. "Camerupt! Use plan C!"

Camerupt roared as the arena brightened from the effects of Sunny Day. It took a deep breath, and white-hot flames of Overheat spewed from its mouth and directed the flames onto Dolly. Dolly screamed as she was bathed in the white flames of Overheat. I quickly recalled her, there was no way she was going to remain standing after that Overheat.

Camerupt was on its last legs though, the next pokemon I sent out will have the win in the bag.

"Kel, Dark Pulse!"

Kel shot a beam of dark energy at camerupt the moment she was released from her pokeball. It hit camerupt on its side as he tried to breathe fire on Kel. Kel evaded it with ease and I noticed that the intensity of the flames had dropped, which is probably due to the drawback of using Overheat.

"Swords Dance, then Night Slash!"

Kel moved her body gracefully in a dance-like pattern and collected dark type energy on her horn. She swung the horn on her head in camerupt's direction and a crescent of dark type energy flew from the edge of her horn and impacted against camerupt, rendering it unconscious.

"Good job, Kel!" I whooped out a shout of delight. That Night Slash was beautiful.

We didn't celebrate for long, as Flannery sent out a smoking torkoal at the same moment.

"Torkoal, use Shell Smash! Then activate full defense!"

Smoke erupted from torkoal as visible cracks appeared on its shell, before its shell glowed a metallic sheen and torkoal was covered in a psychic glow. Damn it, torkoal managed to chain Shell Smash, Iron Defense, and Amnesia all together. Shell Smash may have increased torkoal's offensive capabilities and speed at the expense of lowering torkoal's defensive capabilities, but the usage of Iron Defense and Amnesia actually raised its defensive powers more than what Shell Smash had lowered. That combo that torkoal pulled off actually raised its offensive and defensive powers all at once.

It may not be a bad thing actually, Kel has a move just for things like this.

"Kel, use Punishment!"

Punishment is a dark type move that gains more power the more the opponents of its user tries to boost its powers. In essence, it punishes foes for trying to gain power, hence the name, Punishment. Torkoal had just use three different power boosting moves, he will feel the full effects of Punishment when the move connected.

"Torkoal, Protect!"

Torkoal bellowed and raised its energy shields to block Kel's Punishment, and it is a weird feeling seeing your favourite move being used against you. Kel tried to use another Punishment, but torkoal shot Flamethrowers at Kel, who is suddenly forced to be on the defensive lest she wanted to be burnt. Well then, if Punishment does not work, I just have to force Flannery to switch torkoal out.

"Kel, Perish Song!"

Kel sung out an eerie but melodious tune, and the battlefield fell into silence as trainers and pokemons on both side stared at each other.

"How about this, Flannery? You can keep going as it is and both our pokemon go down together, or you can switch torkoal out. What will you choose?" I taunted from the other side of the arena. What I said was not the total truth, Kel knew Baton Pass, which I guessed she learnt from other absols in her pack back when she was in the wild, similar to other moves she knew like Dark Pulse and Punishment. I could switch out Kel at any time with Baton Pass and pass on the effects of Swords Dance that Kel had used earlier on in battle to someone else on my team, as long as it is done before the effects of Perish Song takes place. Torkoal on the other hand, is not capable of learning Baton Pass if my memory serves me right. Flannery will have to choose between letting torkoal battle Kel and possibly take her out before succumbing to Perish Song, or to switch torkoal out and lose all the boosting effects from her Shell Smash, Iron Defense and Amnesia combo earlier.

"That was a good move, Vera." Flannery grumbled. "Return, Torkoal! Go Magcargo!"

The lava snail pokemon appeared on the battlefield, and Kel wasted no time in attacking it. Magcargo returned the volley of attacks with streams of flames and chunks of burning rocks. I soon realised that Kel is at a disadvantage in facing magcargo due to a lack of ranged moves in her arsenal. She does not have enough of those to allow her to get close to magcargo and deal significant damage. Time to bring out the big guns.

"Kel, Baton Pass to Bigblue!"

Kel's body briefly glowed a dull white before getting recalled back into her pokeball. Bigblue was sent out into battle, who announced his arrival with a roar.

"Bigblue, Muddy Water!"

Bigblue unleashed waves of dirty brown water filled with mud at magcargo, who diverted the waters away from its location. It raised its elevation from the ground by using Stone Edge, and a plateau of rocks lifted magcargo away from the brunt of the attack. Any bursts of water that got too close was turned into steam from the flames magcargo spit out of its mouth. Magcargo remained relatively unharmed on the platform of rocks where it is sitting on.

I gaped in shock at that brilliant move magcargo executed. So _this_ is the power that intermediate trainers are supposed to wield. If this is what intermediate trainers can do, just how strong are the Elite trainers? Just how freakishly strong are trainers who are in ACE and the true power of gym leaders? What about the Elite Four and the Champion?

Throwing that thought at the back of my mind, I commanded Bigblue to use his next attack. Magcargo's weakness is that it is highly immobile. I need to use that to my advantage.

"Bigblue, bring it down from its place with an Earthquake, then get closer!"

Bigblue raised to his full height on his hind legs before slamming its entire body down on the ground. This is the third Earthquake used in this battle, I really hope that the Lavaridge gym would not cave in on us before this battle is over. Bigblue's Earthquake is a lot stronger due to Kel's use of Baton Pass, who passed on the effects of her Swords Dance to him.

The arena shook and the platform of rocks that magcargo was resting on broke into pieces as magcargo fell. Bigblue charged towards magcargo with a Take Down and sent it flying to the far end of the arena towards Flannery's side.

"Magcargo, Sunny Day and multiple Solar Beams, go!"

Shit. I was afraid of this.

Bright light shone onto the battlefield once again and magcargo began to launch Solar Beams at Bigblue. Bigblue conjured walls of stone with Rock Tomb and Rock Slide to block what he could and used Protect when necessary. I don't think he can hold off magcargo's assault for long.

"Bigblue, use Whirlpool on magcargo, sweep it off the ground!"

Raising an extra thick slab of stone for additional protection, Bigblue punched once into the ground using its right arm. A huge torrent of water suddenly appeared where magcargo was, breaking its assault and dealing huge amount of damage to it. Finally.

Magcargo somehow managed to break through the Whirlpool, barely conscious, and quickly bathed itself in white light it emitted from its body. Its wounds started to heal rapidly.

Recover, the magcargo knows _Recover_! This is bad.

"Hurry Bigblue, use Mud Shot! Don't let it heal itself!"

"Solar Beam!"

An intensified beam of sunlight struck Bigblue before he can use Mud Shot. It sent him skidding across the arena in my direction, but he is not out of the count yet. We still have a chance.

Bigblue's body started to emit a bluish glow. His ability, Torrent, had finally started to take effect.

Torrent is Bigblue's ability. When his health falls below a certain threshold, his ability will kick in, and will power up his water type moves in a make-it-or-break-it attempt to help him bring down his foes. It is a power boost that we really need now.

"Muddy Water!"

With a determined roar, Bigblue unleashed the biggest Muddy Water I had ever seen him produced, washing through the entire arena. Nowhere is safe for magcargo.

Magcargo was swept under Bigblue's Muddy Water and I thought we had won this round, until a Solar Beam suddenly shot out from within the water and nailed Bigblue in the torso, taking him out.

When the water receded a few seconds later, I saw magcargo hiding behind a Light Screen, which mitigated a significant amount of damage from Bigblue's Muddy Water. I am down to two pokemon, Snap and Kel, and only Kel is unscathed from the previous battles. However, she does not have the offensive powers to bring Flannery's torkoal down. Only Snap has the capability, and he sustained some serious damage from its earlier battle with houndoom.

This is starting to look really bad.

I recalled Bigblue and sent out Snap, the first thing on my list of priorities now is to block out the sunlight. It gives Flannery's pokemon the ability to spam Solar Beam and increased the potency of her fire type attacks. I should have thought of doing this even before I sent in Bigblue.

"Sandstorm!"

A raging wave of sand made its presence known on the arena, blocking out the sunlight from Sunny Day. An Earth Power from Snap knocked magcargo out swiftly after. Now Flannery have only one pokemon left.

Her torkoal was summoned to battle once again, and immediately began to use the power boosting combos it used earlier with Kel. I recalled Snap, I will need his powers later. Right now I need Kel to setup the battle in Snap's favour. Kel will not last long against a clash of powers against torkoal, I will have to do what I can with Kel before I send Snap out again. I sent Kel out into battle and quickly whispered a series of instructions to her before shouting out my next orders.

"Perish Song! Then Taunt!"

The song of doom reverberated through the arena once more. I had to use Taunt to prevent torkoal from using its power boosting moves repeatedly. There is no way that we can take it down if it used the same combo again.

"Perish Song won't help you if I take your pokemon out before torkoal fainted from its effect! Torkoal, Heat Wave!"

Torkoal exhaled a heated breath at Kel, who managed to dodge just in time gracefully. She sent out bursts of Dark Pulse, Night Slash and Punishment at torkoal, who managed to successfully defend itself from Kel's attacks with bursts of flames. Kel also have to dodge torkoal's flames and use Detect to get out of situations that would be inescapable otherwise. During the entire exchange, Kel was subtly using Swords Dance repeatedly when Flannery's and torkoal's vision was temporary obscured by the dust and smoke that resulted from their attacks, which were the instructions that I whispered to Kel. We currently have only two ways that I can think of to beat torkoal. The first is to last through the three minutes until Perish Song takes effect, giving us the win by default. However, both Kel and I knew that it was unlikely that we could last three minutes on our own against an empowered torkoal. The other option, which is our current plan, is to use Swords Dance repeatedly and pass on the effects to Snap with Baton Pass, giving Snap the required power to annihilate torkoal.

There's no other better option that I can think of now. It is a gamble that we will have to take.

A Shell Smash-empowered Flamethrower nearly knocked Kel unconscious when it finally made contact with her. Her Detect had failed after repeated use. We have to use Baton Pass now, before torkoal beats Kel before she can execute the next phase of our plan.

"Baton Pass to Snap!"

Snap roared and flew into the air with a burst of speed the moment he appeared from his pokeball. I covered my ears with my hands.

"Screech-sonic!"

Snap screamed out an ear-splitting screech that interrupted whatever torkoal was intending to do, who was trying to block out the sound from Screech. It also has an added effect of lowering the target's defense, and I watched in satisfaction as the metallic sheen from torkoal's Iron Defense faded from torkoal's shell. Supersonic was also added to the mix to attempt to inflict the confused status on torkoal.

"Earthquake, full power!"

Snap dived down and gave the fourth and largest Earthquake the gym building had experienced this morning. I was half-expecting for the building to come crumbling down when Snap used this move. The ground split and shook as torkoal was flung about in random directions from the violent tremors of Earthquake. Snap followed up with the attack by trapping torkoal in a Rock Tomb, holding it in a single spot. Torkoal was still reeling in from the effects of Supersonic, bashing its head in confusion against the rocks that held it in place.

Time to finish this.

"DRAGON RUSH! END IT!"

Snap flew high and began to shroud itself in draconic energy. With a final roar, he sped down and crashed into the undefended torkoal like a guided missile. He rose from the cloud of smoke after the attack, preparing to fire off attacks if torkoal somehow managed to endure that Dragon Rush.

There wasn't a need to. When the smoke cleared, torkoal lay defeated and unconscious at the base of a large rock that it had slammed into before passing out.

We won the Lavaridge gym challenge, and successfully won our battle with a gym leader for the fourth consecutive time.

I rushed down into the arena excitedly and gave Snap a big hug, making sure not to aggravate his injuries. Snap roared and breathed out a Dragon Breath into the air to celebrate his victory in his first ever gym battle. I let Kel out as well as we celebrated our victory in the arena on behalf of Bigblue and Dolly, who were defeated in battle. It was a tough battle, and my pokemon managed to snag the win for me. I am just so _happy_!

I'm so happy that I think I _might_ just forget all my grievances about the geysers in the gym.

I still think the geysers is a bad idea though.

* * *

Flannery invited me to use the hot springs at her private quarters at the back of the gym after we sent our pokemons to the pokemon center for recovery. We dipped into her own private hot springs in our birthday suit as we talked about our gym battle. I got a little jealous when I saw her bountiful assets in the buff as compared to my chest, which is almost as flat as a washing board despite showing signs of puberty. I have to remind myself that I am still 11 and I will grow my own curves eventually...probably.

Our conversation in her hot springs was pleasant, and any animosity I had due to the geysers disappeared the moment we began our conversation. I realised that speaking to Flannery was like speaking to a female version of Vance. Flannery is not stupid. She just have her own random stupid moments and needed someone to point them out. I also found out that Flannery is only about a year or two younger than Roxanne. The way she acted around me was also like those of a cool, brash older sister. It was nice to talk to a female figure who is closer to my age other than Roxanne for once, since most of the females that I was close with are older in age, like Mum, Mary, and Grandma Lucy.

I idly wondered what would happen if Vance and Flannery ever had kids together. Would their kids be a walking disaster instead of a walking trouble magnet? Arceus save us all.

Flannery pointed out some stuffs that I could possibly do better, like eliminating Flannery's advantage with magcargo's Sunny Day earlier with Snap so that Bigblue would not have been knocked out with two Solar Beams. The conversation was relaxing, and soon the topic of conversation turned into the different species of fire type pokemon.

"So what do you think of the charmander species?" Flannery asked while she washed herself at one end of the hot springs, opposite to where I was sitting.

I crossed my arms and tried to recall what I know about the fire lizard pokemon. "They have remnants of dragon type DNA in their blood, despite not being dragon type themselves. Scientists have speculated that it is a dormant gene that is unlikely to show itself in the charmander species, and that they might have evolved from a dragon type ancestor from long ago, most probably a tyrantrum. Scientists have also speculated that it is the most likely reason why charmander and its evolutionary line displayed several characteristics and behaviour that are more commonly found in dragon types. The evidences found in support to this are the slower growth rate and longer time to evolve for their species, which is a trait seen in most dragon type pokemon, and their natural ease in learning a range of advanced dragon type moves if given proper tutelage. It is known to be stubborn and proud, and it is hard for anyone to gain its respect, especially after it evolved. Hence, most people prefer training a young charmander than catching a wild charmeleon or charizard and attempt to train it later, simply because it is easier. However, if a trainer managed to earn its respect, it will show undying loyalty to the trainer."

Flannery clapped her hands, which stopped me from continuing further. "Bingo! Got it all in one!" She beckoned to a humongous torkoal, a different one from what I faced earlier, and the torkoal rolled a pokeball over to Flannery who is resting in the waters by the edge of the hot springs. Flannery picked up the pokeball with one hand and petted torkoal's head with another. "This is Charlie, my starter." Torkoal gave a little puff of smoke, and Flannery brought my attention to the pokeball in her hand by waving it excitedly. "I have been wanting to find a suitable trainer for this little guy, but I haven't seen any trainers that looked capable of handling him. The little guy is a charmander, if you are wondering." She pointed to the pokeball in her hand. "My charizard, Sarah, just appeared with an egg after her morning flight around Lavaridge out of the blue and the egg hatched only about a week ago. Cute little critter, this one. But staying here will only be wasting his potential, I don't have the time to take care of him properly." She swam to where I was and slung her free arm across my shoulder, pressing our bodies together. "You are a capable trainer, and it can't hurt to have another powerful fire type on your team, so what do you say in helping me take care of this cute little guy?" She forcefully shoved charmander's pokeball into my hands. I guess 'No' is not an acceptable answer at this point. "Help me take good care of it, 'kay? You can always call me if you need pointers on how to raise it. I know how hard it can be to raise their species, I have one myself."

I rummaged through my clothes lying at the edge of the pool with my free hand to find my Pokedex. I flipped open the Pokedex and scanned charmander's pokeball with it. My eyes widened at the data that the Pokedex have procured from the scan.

"Flannery, you just gave me a regional starter with _three_ advanced egg moves. Three advanced _dragon type_ egg moves."

"Yup." Flannery replied, popping the 'p' sound and talked excitedly. "I know right? I was so surprised since even Sarah didn't know some of these moves. I guessed that she probably found a salamence as a mate somewhere during her flight. That's the most likely explanation. Not sure if you know, but when a compatible male and female pokemon loves each other very much..."

"I get it, I get it." I quickly cut her off, I have no need for another sex-ed talk. "But seriously? How am I supposed to get its respect? I don't know much about taming its species."

Flannery's grin grew wider with her arm still slung across my shoulder. "Well, listen carefully, o little one. This is how you do it..."

* * *

 **AN: This is one of the most exciting battles I have written to date (in my opinion). I wasn't planning to go into details of the gym battle, but when I started writing the battle between Snap and houndoom, I thought, 'Why not?'. I think this battle is a good practice for me when I start writing about the bigger battles that I planned to write later on in the story, and I had fun writing it. I used quite a bit of my own imagination and incorporated some of the tactics that can be seen in competitive battles in the pokemon games.**

 **Special thanks to Pokemon Database, which is a wealth of information on the moves that each pokemon can use, and has data for every generation of pokemon up till the 7th generation, which is the data I used. If anyone is interested to experience competitive pokemon battles FOC, you can try Pokemon Showdown (just google it), where you can build your dream team with the desired pokemon, abilities, and moves, and pit yourself against players online. My experience with competitive battles are mainly derived from there, although I stopped playing about 5 years ago, when the latest generation are the 4th or 5th gen. I had quite a win streak when the latest generation was the 4th gen, until pokemon from the 5th gen kicked in.**

 **As usual, I hoped you enjoyed the story.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmander, male**

 **Flannery, Age: 19, Female, Lavaridge Town Gym Leader**

 **1) Torkoal (Charlie)**

 **2) Charizard (Sarah)**

 **3) Houndoom**

 **4) Camerupt**

 **5) Magcargo**

 **6) Torkoal**

 **7) Numel**

 **8) Slugma**

 **9) Ponyta**

 **10) Growlithe**


	9. Chapter 9- Toothless and Lily

I spent another day in Lavaridge at Flannery's place after our gym battle to learn from her how to handle the charmander species. It is not easy, seeing as they can be quite temperamental if not handled properly, and the huge amount of information that Flannery taught me made my head spin. But I managed to grasp the main points.

I also have to put my foot down and tell the rest of my team that, _NO_ , they will not be doing the initiation tradition by pranking charmander. Charmander is still a baby at a week old and it would be plain bullying. The rest of my team are also fully evolved pokemon and I'm not sure if they have enough control of their powers to not hurt a baby pokemon when executing their prank. They can have their prank when charmander evolves or when he grew up from the baby stage, whichever comes first.

Another reason why I temporarily banned the pranks on charmander was because the way he looks at me is so _cute_. He will look up at me with those big eyes, and the way he looked at me full of adoration made my heart melt. He will also follow me around similar to how a child will follow his mother and is curious at every little thing. I would have hugged and carried him around everywhere until Flannery told me that it would be best to let him walk around on his own power so that he can get used to his body faster.

I cannot bear to subject him to pranks at this point in time, not when he is so cute. Flannery's right, charmander is a cute little critter.

I was facing a problem of trying to find a nickname for charmander as nothing came to mind. I was on the verge of pulling my hair until lunch time came, and I have to feed my pokemon. I poured the pokemon food into my their individual bowls, including charmander's, and was about to dig into my own food when I saw charmander looking at it quizzically.

"Charmander is still a _baby_ , Velda. He doesn't have teeth to help him chew yet, not until about a week later. He can only consume some liquid food for now."

Upon Flannery's remark, I went up to charmander and gently pried his mouth open. She's right, charmander doesn't have teeth at all.

An idea for charmander's nickname suddenly hit me. I remembered a movie back in my previous life called ' _How to train your dragon_ ', and the protagonist named his dragon " _Toothless_ " simply because he mistakenly thought that it doesn't have teeth the first time he fed him. The situation I'm facing now is kind of similar, just that charmander _really_ did not have any teeth yet in this case.

That's how charmander got named Toothless, I hope he won't eat me alive in the future for giving him such a childish name.

Toothless is actually not as hard to handle as I thought it will be. The main reason is because he is still a baby, and he sees me as some sort of mother figure to him. The challenge will present itself when he grows out of the baby phase, and starts to get temperamental. The charmander species are proud and stubborn. They respect power. To command them, you cannot present yourself as weak, and you have to give them the respect that they deserve. This treatment is similar to how trainers will use to befriend dragon types, it's just that charmander and their evolutionary line happen to need the same treatment as to how you treat dragons. What is considered as "weak" differs for each individual pokemon, but it is widely accepted that by being confident and unwavering in the face of adversity should be enough to not fall into the "weak" category for most of them. Flannery said that I should not have any issue in the respect part, the only problem will be their huge ego and stubbornness, which will mellow out once they truly acknowledge your strength as a trainer. She stressed to me that the process of taming a charmander is usually not so simple, but Toothless happened to be an impressionable baby so I had it easy.

Before leaving Lavaridge, I spent some money to purchase several TMs. I decided to splurge our money on this purchase as the reason why we had such a difficult time in facing Flannery was due to the fact that we do not have a diverse enough range of moves. Secondly, there happened to be a sale at Lavaridge's pokemart and I have sufficient money to buy a few reusable TMs. After some consideration, I bought Solar Beam, Stone Edge, Roost, Ice Beam, and Scald. These are TMs that can be used by at least more than one of the pokemons on my team, other than Scald. I wanted to buy Blizzard as well, but it is similar enough to Ice Beam that it would be a waste to buy two similar TMs. I decided to buy Scald for Bigblue as he had surprisingly few water type moves despite being a water type. He only knew Water Gun, Whirlpool, and Muddy Water currently. Water Gun and Whirlpool don't do enough damage and people rarely use them at this stage of the gym circuit. Muddy Water is a strong attack, but lacks the precision and accuracy that we sometimes need in battle. Scald have both accuracy and power, and also have the added effect of burning its foes if the user got a good hit in, so it seemed like a good buy.

I still spent 16,000 pokedollars on the TMs despite the discount from the sale. But it is still worth it as they are all reusable TMs and they are moves that are often used in the higher levels of trainer battles. The only downside is that I'm nearly _broke_ , again.

I have to find ways to earn money fast, and hope that the remaining 3,000 pokedollars that I have on me can last me as long as possible.

After my Lavaridge gym challenge, I need to go back to my hometown in Petalburg for the fifth badge, and there are many options to travel back. I could purchase a teleport service, but I would really be broke after that. I could also ride on Flamel's back and go through Route 111, avoiding the desert this time, and slowly follow the main routes that trainers used to make my way back home.

What I am dying to try, is to fly back home on Snap's back. He is now big enough to fly me around on his back since he evolved into a flygon.

I spent another 1,000 pokedollars from the remaining 3,000 pokedollars to buy a saddle. It is adjustable and can be fitted on almost any pokemon. It also have the benefit of being able to be stored in a pokeball together with the pokemon that it is being fitted on, much like a held item. Held items are banned in official trainer battles and the Ever Grande Conference, but they are often used outside official battles. Members of ACE, Rangers, and the LSDF often give their pokemon held items to aid them in their duties, and sometimes the items can help save the lives of the pokemon that are holding said items. I still have not figured out how some items work. Leftovers, for example, looked like a half-eaten apple no matter how I looked at it. Yet it can help restore a pokemon's health over time.

I just chalked it up to pokemon logic and left it there.

Snap also seemed eager to be able to have the chance to fly a long-distance flight. I took awhile trying to figure out how to properly fit the saddle on him, and Snap looked like a true professional flyer with a saddle on its back once we were done with it. I zipped my jacket and placed the go-googles, that I bought before traversing through the desert, over my eyes. I had made sure to wear my jeans for this occasion to complete my flying attire, different from my usual preference of wearing dresses or skirts when I am in cities or towns.

Flygons are a peculiar species. For one, despite being classified as a dragon and ground type pokemon, they look more like a bug type pokemon, especially when it is at the vibrava stage. Flygons have large red covers that protects their eyes from the sand of the desert, and it is these covers that made it look like a bug type. Their egg group, surprisingly enough, or not, depending on how you look at it, belongs to the bug egg group. Flygons also have the Levitate ability, that makes it immune to ground type move and gives it some sort of flight capability even without the use of their wings. Their nimbleness in the air is due to the fact that they can use their wings and Levitate ability in conjunction to pull off complicated air maneuvers. A long time ago, flygons are also known to desert nomads as "The Desert Spirit", as their wings produces a singing sound when they are flapped. It is quite nice to listen to actually, if you sit down and take the time to listen. However, if you ever hear the same sound in the desert, it is best to run away in the opposite direction. Flygons also uses the sound from its wings to attract prey to their location so that they can hunt for food.

Flygons are also the master of sandstorms, they can call the sands to do their bidding with a flap of their wings. This ability of theirs almost made scientists classify its ability as Sand Stream, until Levitate was discovered instead.

What is not well-known is that flygons can fly _very_ fast. They are not as fast as other dragons like dragonite, salamence, or even garchomp (although there are people who argued that garchomp glides through the air instead of flying, hence it is not capable of true flight), but they are still fast. What took us three weeks to travel from Mauville to the end of Route 113 only took Snap a single day to fly me from Lavaridge to Mauville.

I was a little cold and blue from being high up in the air and flying at high speeds, but the time we saved from travelling was worth it.

I stayed a night at Mauville, and popped by Wattson's gym the next morning. He had nothing better to do due to the recent lack of challengers that managed to make their way to him, so he challenged me to another battle, this time a friendly one with no stakes attached. Wattson did not possess any pokemon on the intermediate level, so we made do with his pokemon that are on the lower end of the Elite level.

Needless to say, he wiped the floor with me.

It was a good battle nonetheless, and I picked up a few things from that battle, so it wasn't for nothing.

After the battle with Wattson, I decided to fly from Mauville to Rustboro as Rusturf Tunnel, the tunnel that connects Verdanturf and Rustboro, is not completed yet. I need to get to Rustboro to revive my root fossil into a lileep or cradily.

We took another day to fly to Rustboro. The flying experience is much better this time around as we flew slower and the airspace in this part of Hoenn is more suited for flying. The feeling when you looked at the ground from high up in the sky feels so magical.

 _I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering splendid~_

I can understand how Aladdin feels now when he went for that magical carpet ride. The experience is truly magical, very different from what you see within the confines of a plane. The flower fields of Verdanturf was a very beautiful sight from the air, and I snapped a few pictures from Snap's back (no pun intended) to show my parents when I get back home later.

* * *

The cost to revive my root fossil is astronomical. It amounted to more than 1,000,000 pokedollars when everything is factored in. Even for an Elite trainer, this is not a small amount.

The root fossil was identified to be a lileep fossil, and I had to call my parents for financial help. Luckily, the cost is nothing compared to the financial wealth that the Vera family had accumulated over many generations. I have to admit, it feels good to be born into a rich family where cost isn't an issue for almost anything. Dad and Mum were excited at the prospect of trying to breed a prehistoric pokemon and by the end of my call with them, they were already planning on how to breed lileep.

I'm not sure if it is possible to even breed a lileep with 'modern' pokemons considering that all their prehistoric counterparts have been wiped out, and trainers with prehistoric pokemon were rare in the first place. But if anyone can do it, it will be my parents. The revival process takes a week to complete, so I decided to drop by the Rustboro gym to visit Roxanne.

Roxanne was excited to see me again, and we spent some time at Chansey's Cafe to catch up. I shared the details of my journey with her, and she was particularly impressed at Bigblue's mastery of rock type techniques. I spent the rest of my free time to help her with the Trainer's School, and to teach my pokemon new moves with the TMs I possessed.

Currently I have the TMs for Rock Tomb, Protect, Bulk up, Shock Wave, Overheat, Solar Beam, Stone Edge, Roost, Ice Beam and Scald. A total of 10 TMs and most of my team can learn a few of the TMs I have on hand. The only problem is that currently Scald can only be learned by Bigblue, and that no one on my team is capable of learning Bulk Up, so the TMs are just sitting in my TM case and collecting dust.

Toothless will have to wait until he is at least two weeks old before I start his training, even then it will just be light training, nothing too vigorous, and he will certainly not be taught moves from the TMs yet. During our stay in Rustboro, I taught Flamel Overheat and Solar Beam. Bigblue have learnt Stone Edge, Ice Beam, and Scald. Snap diversified its moves with Solar Beam, Roost, and Stone Edge. Kel had to learn the most number of moves, starting with Rock Tomb, Protect, Shock Wave, Stone Edge, and Ice Beam. Dolly was temporarily exempted from all these as I wanted her to master the moves that she had learnt from her previous trainer, before moving on to other moves that she could learn from my TMs. Toothless just sat beside me and watched as the other members of the team trained, and I could see the excitement in his eyes.

There is a need to clarify here that _knowing_ how to use the move through TM is not the same as _mastering_ the move. Yes, the moment I activated the Overheat TM on Flamel, Flamel will know how to use Overheat. But can he control the intensity of the flames? Can he control the output so that it is strong enough, but not at the risk of overexerting himself? Can he use the move without losing control of the flames? Can he even summon enough power to use the move in the first place?

All the finer details in perfecting a single move is what separates the truly Elite trainers from the average ones. Even a simple Rock Tomb can be used in many other ways other than trapping its opponents. Bigblue uses Rock Tomb for defensive purposes and applied the theory behind it to control the properties of the ground together with his ground type techniques. His mastery of Rock Slide was based on what he learnt from Rock Tomb. Flannery's magcargo uses Stone Edge, which is an advanced rock type move with devastating offensive powers, to get around its mobility issue. There are many uses to a single move so long as you have the imagination to invent them.

By the end of week-long stay in Rustboro, my team still did not manage to master their new moves. It was within my expectations, I would be surprised if they managed to master all these advanced moves within a week. Their hard work did pay off, and now they are at least proficient in using it without making rookie mistakes.

I also collected my revived lileep from the scientists at Devon Corporation, who informed me that lileep is a female, a rare gender among her species.

Lileep is a quiet pokemon, and she does not like to move much other than swaying on the spot. When she does want to move, however, she prefers to move by using the tentacles on the top of her head to swing herself around like how an infernape moves through trees, provided she has something to hold and swing to. On flat terrain, she just pushed herself off the ground with her extended tentacles and "walked" with them. She can use the four stubby leg-like root appendages to move around, but it is not her preferred choice when it comes to movement as it is too slow. I'm not sure if this particular way of moving around is typical of her species or it's just the peculiarity displayed only by my lileep, there are too little information regarding her species.

Despite being a part rock type, lileep loves being in the water. Studies have revealed that their species used to live on the sea floor, ambushing unsuspecting prey by ensnaring them in their tentacles before devouring them. Luckily, she seemed to enjoy pokemon food more than capturing and eating live prey, so I do not need to worry about it ambushing the pokemons on my family's farm when I get back home.

Lileep is not a baby pokemon like Toothless, so the rest of my pokemon (excluding cute little Toothless, I don't want them to corrupt him with their antics just yet) deemed her as fair game when it comes to the pranking tradition. However, no matter what they try, lileep just seemed unaffected by their antics, and so the rest of my pokemon stopped the pranks after a while.

I spent two whole days trying to think of a name for lileep, and I decided to name her Lily in the end. She _is_ classified as a sea lily pokemon, and the lily flower is usually used for funerals to symbolise that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death. Lily, like me, had died once, and was revived once more into this world. I'm not sure if she experienced the "restored innocence" part, at least I don't think I did. I'm not even sure if she remembered her previous life, but I think that the name Lily really suited her.

A revived pokemon together with a reincarnated trainer, it has a nice feel to it.

Lily seemed really happy when I asked if she liked the name I chose for her, and wrapped me gently with her tentacles while gurgling happily. Flamel panicked and thought that she was going to eat me at that moment, and chaos ensued for a short while until I managed to calm everyone down. On the upside, Lily seemed more willing to mingle and interact more with the team after having her own nickname instead of swaying on her lonesome.

* * *

"I'm HOOOMMMMEEEE!" I shouted as I opened the doors to my house. Thankfully, the journey back home from Rustboro is only a few hours long by flight thanks to their close proximity. It has been slightly more than five months since the start of my journey and I've been starting to miss home.

"Vel!" Mum ran out from inside of the kitchen and embraced me with a tight hug. It was nearing lunchtime and I did tell them that I should be able to make it back home around lunch. I can already smell the aroma of the food that she is cooking.

When Mum finally released me, it was just in time as Fang ran into the house from the back door and barreled into me, gently knocking me onto the floor and playfully licking my face as I laughed. I saw Dad approach us out of the corner of my eye and I turned to face him.

"Hi Dad."

"Hello Velda." Dad replied as he gently picked me up from the floor and ruffled my hair, a gesture that he only used on me. It felt like that I had never left. I felt at home.

"Lunch will be ready in about 10 minutes. How about the both of you go feed the pokemons?" Mum hollered from the kitchen, and I could hear the _'clang, clang'_ sound of her cooking together with the sizzling sound of fire.

Dad and I made our way to the farm at the back of our house. I released my entire team out of their pokeballs and Dad whistled at the sight of it. He took a long look at Lily, probably thinking of how to breed it, before turning back to me.

"That's an impressive team you have there, Vel. Are you thinking of being a Generalist?"

"You know I never cared about such things. But at this rate, I probably will be one." I stood beside him, rocking on the balls of my feet. "I could be anything actually, I have two fire types and two ground types. When you look at it this way, I could easily be a Fire Specialist or a Ground Specialist. Still, I don't think I am going to specialise in anything, so I will probably be a Generalist like Vance and you."

During our conversation, my team took in the new sights of the place. Flamel recognised that he was home and neighed happily, eager to go galloping into the vast lands of our farm.

"Easy there, Flamel. You can run all you want later. Now you have to eat your lunch."

* * *

The entirety of the day was spent with my parents. We talked, and I helped out on the farm together with my parents. Technically, my parents do not need to work on the farm if they do not wish to, but they enjoy taking care of pokemon. More than a 100 workers were employed by my parents to work on my family's farm, some of them worked on our farm their whole lives since the days when the farm was ran by my grandfather. I knew most of them personally, and greeted them politely whenever I see them.

I spent my time at home preparing myself for the Petalburg gym challenge while spending quality time with my parents. Sadly, Vance was busy with ACE duties as usual and would not be back anytime soon. I will spend the mornings after breakfast training at a remote end of the farm with my pokemon until lunch. I spent the afternoons helping out on the farm with my parents, or if there is nothing to do, I will ride on Flamel's back to explore the farm like old times. This time around, we have more companions with us. Kel often ran beside Flamel, Dolly will sometimes ride on Flamel with me, and Snap will fly overhead us. The rest of the team do not have the speed to run with us and they will do their own things when I choose to ride on Flamel. Bigblue will either swim in a pool or lumber off somewhere. I presumed it went to find its fellow kin (I still don't know where my parents house the regional starters on our farm, or how they managed to keep it hidden from me for so long). Dolly will disappear into the shadows to hide in the cupboard in my room when the sunlight is too harsh for her. Toothless will play with the houndour pups or any other baby pokemons he can find while Lily will just find a sunny spot and sway in the sun. Sometimes when my parents do not need my help on the farm and when I don't feel like riding on Flamel, I will just lie down in the shade of the great oak tree where Whiskers used to make its burrow. My pokemon will lay around me and we will snooze until dinnertime. After dinner, we will continue our training until it is time to turn in for the night.

This routine continued for two weeks. Most of the training we had done was to master the new moves from the TMs. Dolly surprised me by managing to master Shock Wave on top of the moves she was supposed to master during the two weeks of training. Toothless had started training, but the trainings were very light. I only put him through target practice and evasion training, on top of trying to hone his mastery of his own flames. Lily is capable of battle, but she probably will only be good enough to battle gym trainers at this point. Lily had learnt and mastered Toxic from Dolly, Rock Tomb from the TM, together with Rock Slide from Bigblue, who was a great help in helping Lily master rock type techniques. Flamel taught her Sunny Day, which did not pose any problems for her, and she also learnt Solar Beam, which she mastered only after a day of training. She was passable at using Sandstorm after Snap attempted to teach her the move, but does not seem interested in using it. She is a natural with Protect and currently has the highest success rate in using the move successively among the team.

I first thought that Lily's forte was at ambush, seeing how her species hunted for their food. I was proven wrong when I realised that her true strength lies at being a defensive battler, and she is at her best when battling defensively. She is good at crowd control with moves like Confuse Ray, Astonish, Constrict, and Stealth Rock. If you add on to the fact that Lily will eventually gain the powers to shape the entire battlefield with rock techniques when she becomes a cradily, you have a prehistoric plant capable of changing the landscape at her whim. Lily also have no qualms in taking on more than one opponent in our mock battles. She lost more than she won, but that is mainly because there is a significant difference in combat prowess between her and the fully evolved members of the team. That will change when she evolves into a cradily in the future. Other than the crowd control Lily can dish out, what makes her such an outstanding defensive battler is that she has access to many recovery moves, like Ingrain, Mega Drain, Giga Drain, and even Recover. When she evolves into a cradily, she will have access to the Stockpile and Swallow combo, which is a recovery combo. Her defensive capabilities makes her extremely versatile, and I have no doubt that her unique abilities will allow her to carve herself an irreplaceable spot on the team when it comes to the Ever Grande Conference. Not that the other members of my team aren't strong, but I can already foresee that there will be battles that only Lily can fight given how unique her abilities are.

I also spent the time at home finding out more about the pokemons that Norman might use in my gym challenge. I could feel my head starting to hurt when I saw the pokemons that he is known to use.

The list of pokemons that he is known to use at the intermediate level are as follows: spinda, linoone, more than two different vigoroths, at least two slakings, blissey, kangaskhan ( _where did he get rare pokemons like blissey and kangaskhan!?_ ), tauros, zangoose, exploud, staraptor, pidgeot, and sawsbuck. Half of these pokemon aren't even from Hoenn! And what is with his tendency to collect rare pokemons like blissey, kangaskhan, and zangoose! Each of them is worth a small fortune if you buy them from a breeding farm!

I have no idea on how to prepare for this gym challenge other than training, training, and more training. I also have no idea on what to expect when I finally face Norman. I could draw up a probability table from what I see in the forums, but I doubt that it will be much help. If this is the lineup he have at the intermediate level, I don't want to know what he actually uses at the Elite level, much less the ones on his main team.

No wonder so many trainers fell out of the gym circuit by the fifth or sixth gym. It is designed such that only the truly strong can pass.

I sighed, and dialed Vance's number on my xtransceiver, maybe he can give a helpful tip or two on how to face unpredictable opponents like Norman.

* * *

It is another beautiful day in Petalburg. The flowers are starting to bloom. They are not in full bloom yet, most of them are halfway there or on the cusp of blooming. The sun is shining brightly, not too harsh, but also not too little, it is just at the right intensity where it caresses your skin with warmth. The taillows are chirping. Not too loud, but soft enough that you can appreciate their singing voice. Petalburg is located next to the ocean, and the sea breeze cooled the interior of the room with a slight salty smell of the sea. Not too much that it feels like you are experiencing the roaring waves of the ocean, but gentle enough for you to feel the breeze brushing across your skin. Everything looks perfect. Everything seems to have the right balance.

What makes it truly perfect, in Norman's opinion, is that all these can be felt in the comfort of his living room, while he hugged his one year old daughter, May, with one arm as she curled up asleep by his side and he sat beside her on their couch. His wife, Caroline, is sitting beside him on the other side reading a novel in comfortable silence. Everything is not merely looking perfect, everything _feels_ perfect, with the right balance.

Norman's other arm is scrolling through his Pokenav. Flannery had just sent a video of her battle with Velda Vera, a promising trainer that suddenly became the hot topic of discussion between all the other gym leaders. Roxanne, Brawly and Wattson had sent their videos of their battles with her in the gym leaders chat group before, and the battles were impressive considering she just started her journey. He only realised that he had sent a message to the group after watching Roxanne's video after he sent it. He had unconsciously typed and sent a ' _Very impressive_ ' while watching the video on his laptop. It surprised him as well, he does not have the habit of talking in chat groups, or messaging people in general.

This young trainer actually broke his well-maintained balance, albeit temporarily.

The subsequent videos sent by his colleagues were all impressive, and the gym leaders chat group have never been so lively in his short tenure as a gym leader outside of work related topics. Technically their videos of Velda can be considered as work related, but at this point it is more for their entertainment than anything else.

"What has gotten you so excited?"

Caroline shifted herself closer to him, peering at his Pokenav over his shoulder. She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her.

If there is one person in this world that can read him like an open book no matter what kind of mask he wore on his face, it would be her. She came into his life one fine day, broke any semblance of balance in his life, and built it back for him again. Whenever they are together, life became perfect and more balanced, something that he thought would never be possible. She made him a better man. Whereas he used to be cold and unforgiving, she soften the insides of his heart and brought out the best of him. She made him smile, which is a huge difference from the expressionless look that he was so used to wearing on his face. She brought out the more cheerful side of him, and made him laugh, something that he never thought he will experience again after the death of his family, who was killed in the crossfire during a spat between Team Magma and Team Aqua when they first moved to Hoenn from Johto. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in the span of a single day, he lost his parents and his older sister.

It was what drove him to join ACE, as only ACE operatives will go on the most dangerous of missions to apprehend these zealous fanatics and terrorists. He wanted to weed out all criminal activities in Hoenn, so that no one have to experience what he went through. He became cold and serious, so that he could focus and be the very best operative in ACE. He tuned his mind, heart, body, and soul to co-exist at the perfect balance, so that he could be the perfect weapon for ACE. A weapon that is capable of cleaving through its foes no matter what type of situation it found itself in.

Norman thought that this was how he will be living for the rest of his life, to be constantly in battle until he is too old to do so or he got himself killed in action. He was fine with it. He lived for the sake of destruction of evil. As someone who preached about balance, he knew that good and evil are two sides of the same coin. If one exists, so does the other. Evil can never be truly destroyed. That doesn't mean that he couldn't try to minimise or contain the damage that evil brings about. There are many things in this world that cannot be classified as purely 'good', or purely 'evil'. There will always be grey areas, and he will try to find an answer to these grey areas. He will try to seek out a perfect balance between black and white, between good and evil.

He was glad that Caroline pulled him out of that path of loneliness and destruction. His pokemon had tried to help, but none of them are able to drive their point across his thick skull unlike Caroline. She loved him, and he loved her. She never asked anything from him other than his company, and never requested for him to change for her. Norman knew that all Caroline wanted was a stable life with the man she loves even if she doesn't say it, but it is something that he cannot give her as long as he is in ACE. No one in ACE lives a stable life, that is a known fact. Norman loved being in ACE, but he loved Caroline even more.

Upon that moment of realisation, Norman promised Caroline that he will try his best to give her a stable life. He decided to resign from ACE. He had promised her, and he always fulfills his promise.

His resignation was a shock to all of ACE, and with a good reason too. ACE is made up of 17 different companies, each named after a pokemon type. Each company have a number of squads under it which made up the company. Norman was the commanding officer of the Fairy Company. Under his command, Fairy Company was one of the best companies in ACE. In strength, it only lost to Ghost Company, the strongest company in ACE under the leadership of Wallace, only by a slight margin. There were no surprises there. Wallace is someone who is strong enough to be the Champion of Hoenn, and he was even granted permission by the Hoenn League to have the authority to command the whole of ACE in times of emergency. Regardless, the power Norman possessed is nothing to scoff at. Norman's strength and accomplishment made him one of ACE's most valuable operatives, and it was why he was chosen to be the commanding officer of Fairy Company.

Norman's resignation caused a huge uproar in ACE as the operatives watched one of their 17 commanding officers, a position that only a few operatives can achieve in their lifetime, leave their ranks.

Norman led a happy life with his newly-wed wife after leaving ACE. There was no real hurry in finding a job, he had earned a fortune from his time in ACE and it would last them for a few years even if they spend frivolously. Still, Norman found himself wishing that he could continue battling strong foes.

His opportunity came when there was a vacancy for the position of gym leader at Petalburg. Norman quickly applied for it with his wife's support. His application was quickly approved by the Hoenn League, who were aware of his achievements during his time in ACE. They moved to Petalburg and settled down there. Being a gym leader granted him a stable job, which helped him fulfill his promise to his wife, and he can continue to battle worthy opponents. It was like he had the best of both worlds.

Norman was brought out of his thoughts when his wife tried to look at the contents displayed on the screen on his Pokenav. He shifted slightly to enable her to see better, taking extra care not to wake their sleeping daughter.

"It is a video of a gym battle. There is a trainer who have been achieving stellar results in her gym battles thus far. Every badge she earned was done by defeating the gym leaders in battle, and it has become a source of entertainment for us gym leaders to share the videos of our battles with her among ourselves. You might know her, she is the youngest child of the Vera family. Their family's farm is located here at Petalburg. This video was just sent to us by Flannery."

Caroline's eyes widened in surprise. "I don't know much about battling, but isn't it very difficult to defeat a gym leader, no matter what level of difficulty the gym challenge is supposed to be?"

"Almost impossible."

Caroline's mouth widened slightly in shock as she tried to process Norman's words. Unlike Norman, she is a pokemon coordinator, who performs at pokemon contests. She rarely did battles and only retired from her career as a coordinator after getting pregnant to look after May. But she also knew how hard it is to be a trainer, and Norman isn't one to mince words. If he said it is 'almost impossible', he really meant 'almost impossible'.

Norman chuckled at his wife's expression. "I haven't watch this video yet, you can watch with me if you are interested."

That was how they spent their next 20 minutes. Even if the battle was watched through a screen, it was exhilarating. May had woken up halfway through the video and even she was captivated by what she saw, even if she cannot understand what was happening.

" _This_ trainer is coming to _your_ gym." Were Caroline's first words to him after watching the video as she picked May up and hold May in her arms.

"Flannery was a little late in sending this video. It has been almost two weeks since the battle took place, so the trainer should be making her appearance here very soon."

"You are excited in facing her." It was not a question, Caroline knew for a fact that Norman _is_ excited at battling Velda, even if there are no visible signs that betrayed his inner thoughts.

"I am." Norman admitted. "I was already impressed with her performance when I first saw her battle in Roxanne's video. The videos of her subsequent gym challenges did not disappoint me either. I have been awaiting her challenge for months." He was itching to go out and train to his heart's content at this point, he wanted to bring the best battle he could offer to Velda when she comes to his gym.

"Go out and train, you battle maniac, I know you are dying to do so." Caroline laughed. Norman planted a quick kiss on the forehead of his wife and daughter before exiting their house situated next to the gym. He thought of the pokemons he have on hand to deal with a trainer like her. Who would be suitable in facing her?

He walked into the greenhouse which is located at the back of his gym, where he housed most of his pokemon companions. They had been the best of friends and the most loyal of comrades to him for many years. They greeted him excitedly when they saw him, and when they knew that he was here for training, they formed up quickly and neatly into a small platoon, a habit they acquired from their days in ACE.

A behemoth of a slaking lumbered to his side. Judge, his starter, stood beside him, awaiting his command.

"A promising trainer will be here soon for our Balance Badge. She is of the intermediate level, age 11, most notable features are her blond hair and green eyes. The pokemon she uses in her gym challenges thus far suggests that she is most likely a Generalist." Most of the information Norman spoke of is not needed for an official battle, and the way he spoke was how he used to brief his operatives before going out on missions. He just can't seem to change certain habits that was so ingrained into him during his time in ACE, something that Caroline often teased him about.

Norman's gaze turned sharp, just like how it always did for every mission before he was deployed.

"I have thought of how we are going to face her, and this is how we are going to do it."

* * *

 **AN: A chill chapter to introduce Toothless and Lily. I thought really long and hard about Toothless's name, and I have no idea on what name to choose for him until I remembered the 'How to train your dragon' movie. The circumstances were pretty similar to Velda and Toothless, so I just used the same name.**

 **I hoped that I handled Norman's pov properly. The idea of balance was initially supposed to be a pun due to his Balance Badge. But I found out that I can incorporate the idea of balance as a form of ideology for Norman. I think the badge of every gym leader is a symbolism of their ideology to a certain extent, and Norman's pokemon in pokemon emerald was pretty balanced, with a good mix of offensive, defensive and status inflicting moves, including the occasional power up moves like Belly Drum. His pokemon are like a reflection to his beliefs, and so I found it fitting that Norman's ideology should be about balance.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter, I will try to churn out the gym battle chapter as soon as possible.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmander (Toothless), male**

 **7) Lileep (Lily), female**

 **Norman, Age: 32, Petalburg City Gym Leader, Ex ACE Commanding Officer of Fairy Company**

 **1) Slaking (Judge)**

 **2) Spinda**

 **3) Linoone**

 **4) Vigoroth**

 **5) Slaking**

 **6) Blissey**

 **7) Kangaskhan**

 **8) Tauros**

 **9) Zangoose**

 **10) Exploud**

 **11) Staraptor**

 **12) Pidgeot**

 **13) Sawsbuck**


	10. Chapter 10- Adversity

"Solar Beam!"

Lily gurgled, before charging up the light energy required to execute the move. Her Solar Beam stuck true and landed on the opponent's delcatty, who was defenseless as Lily had it all wrapped up in her tentacles.

That's the fifth gym trainer so far, two more to go.

The gym trainer congratulated me for the win and shook my hand, before leaving the room to heal his pokemon. The Petalburg gym challenge is way harder than any of the other gym challenges so far. I can no longer sweep through their ranks with a single pokemon. Lily was my main battler for this portion since she is not yet strong enough to face a gym leader's pokemon in battle. I still need the help from Flamel and Kel to handle some of the stronger foes, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. They have no problems in handling the gym trainers.

I am the problem.

After that gym trainer left, I bit back a whimper as I knelt down on the floor with one knee trying to fight through the pain my body is experiencing. My body had started to give me problems around the time when I was facing the third gym trainer. It was only a little discomfort at first, so I didn't ponder much about it. But it suddenly wrecked my entire body with such acute pains halfway into my battle with the fifth gym trainer. Of _all_ times, my body chose _today_ of all days to start giving me problems when it hasn't been troubling me for so long, other than Flannery's geyser shenanigans. It could have came yesterday, or tomorrow, or any other day, but _noooo_ , it has to be _today_.

Lily moved closer to me and looked at me worriedly, she wanted to help me stand but was seemingly afraid that any physical contact would worsen my condition. I could just throw in the towel now and waited until my body got better, but we have been preparing for this challenge for _days._ We were doing fine so far, I will not let my body ruin our chances.

I stabilised my breathing and stood up shakily, leaning slightly on Lily for support.

"I'm fine, Lily. Just a little pain, that's all."

I don't think Lily bought my explanation, but she helped me to stand properly before letting me lead the way to the next room.

Thankfully, the Petalburg gym challenge is not designed as a maze, I'm getting really sick of those. All it had were seven rooms, with a gym trainer in each room. The rooms each have a different name and are named after the seven aspects of battling. They are the Speed Room, Accuracy Room, Zero Reduction Room, Defense Room, Recovery Room, Strength Room, and One-Hit KO room. Each of the trainers that waited in these rooms specialises in the aspect of the room that they are stationed in. In case you were wondering, Zero Reduction in the Petalburg gym means that the "stats" of the pokemon, like offensive or defensive capabilities, cannot be lowered further, hence Zero Reduction. One-Hit KO does not refer to moves like Fissure or Sheer Cold, but the ability to strike critical hits on the opponents.

Right now, I only have the Strength Room and One-Hit KO room to finish before facing Norman.

I could go for the minimum and only clear three of these rooms to reach Norman. But I wanted to clear all seven rooms because Lily needs as much experience as possible in fighting through gym challenges. She had trained just as hard as the others and deserved to fight in the gym challenge just as much as the others do. I would have let Toothless battle as well, but he still has a long way to go before he could be of any help in gym challenges.

I gritted my teeth, placed my hand on the handle of the door leading to the Strength Room and used my other hand to wipe the cold sweat off my forehead. I had been through worse pains when I was younger, what I am currently experiencing is nothing. I cannot let my team down right now.

I pushed open the door, and spotted the sixth gym trainer waiting inside. Lily walked up into the arena, prepared for battle.

We are going to win this.

* * *

The pain got worse as I entered the final room. Norman stood opposite from where I was as I entered. We didn't converse as we completed the registration process, and I was glad for the silence. I am in no mood or condition for banter. The information from the forums were correct, and as expected, this battle will be a 5 vs 5 single battle, with a maximum of 5 pokemon on each side. I was about to send in my first pokemon when he furrowed his brows and spoke to me.

"Are you sure you are ok? You look rather pale."

"I'm fine, my skin colour has always been a little too light."

Norman continue to stare at me, like he was trying to see through my lie. He relaxed his posture as he held a pokeball in his hand. I guessed that either he didn't manage to find anything visibly wrong with me, or he didn't care.

Flamel appeared on the battlefield as Norman released his sawsbuck. Looks like my luck in gym battles had finally turned for the better.

"Burn it all!"

I usually do not pull off such reckless moves at the start of the battle, but I'm not sure how long my body can hold until I succumb to the pain. I intend to finish the battle as fast as possible. We have the type advantage, and I am going to make use of every advantage we have.

Flamel unleashed his flames and set the battlefield alight with fire. I wanted to let him use Sunny Day as well, but I am afraid that sawsbuck possess the chlorophyll ability, which raises its speed in sunlight. Sawsbuck dashed around, trying to find a way to get through the flames.

"Sand-Attack! Get rid of the fire! Then Double-Edge!"

Sawsbuck kicked up a huge amount of sand in Flamel's direction, and immediately charged through the dying flames with its horns pointing at Flamel. I wanted Flamel to use Bounce to escape into the air, but that will make him a vulnerable target as he is unable to change directions while off the ground. Time for plan B.

"Inferno! Then Flare Blitz!"

Flamel unleashed the hot flames of Inferno at sawsbuck as it came charging towards him. To sawsbuck's credit, it didn't flinch from the burns, and continue to charge straight at Flamel while getting caught in the fire. Flamel bathed himself in flames and met sawsbuck's charge head on with a Flare Blitz.

The two pokemon met in a collision that produced a shock wave that could be felt all the way from the challenger's box. The shock wave died down, and both pokemons were competing in a series of blows with their horns, trying to jab and pierce their foe.

"Megahorn! Throw it up!"

Flamel immediately lowered himself and managed to get his horn under sawsbuck's belly. With a powerful flick of his head, sawsbuck was sent flying into the air.

"Sawsbuck, Hyper Beam!"

Sawsbuck gathered energy at the front of his opened mouth in midair, and sent it blasting in a straight line at Flamel.

"Dodge it with Agility, then blast it up higher into the air with Flamethrower!"

In an impressive burst of speed, Flamel disappeared from sight as sawsbuck's Hyper Beam came crashing down where he once was. Sawsbuck attempted to redirect its Hyper Beam at Flamel, but Flamel is just too fast. Flamel had managed to master up to three consecutive uses of Agility before losing control upon evolution. There is no way for sawsbuck to hit him with Hyper Beam.

Flamel sent a huge cone of fire at sawsbuck once the Hyper Beam ended, sending it crashing into the high ceiling of the gym.

"Giga Impact!"

At Norman's words, sawsbuck reopened its eyes, pushing through the pain of its burns and used its powerful legs to push itself off the ceiling, hurling itself at Flamel at high speeds with the aid of gravity. That move will take Flamel out if it manages to make direct contact. We need to do something.

"Flamel, Protect! Full power!"

Flamel let out a cry as a thick greenish shield materialised before him. Sawsbuck crashed into it, and the impact created a huge crater when it landed on Flamel's shield. Sawsbuck reeled back in pain from its impact against the impenetrable shield. That have to hurt.

Sawsbuck is too close to Flamel for its comfort. This is our chance.

"Overheat! Roast it!"

The white-hot flames of Overheat washed itself against sawsbuck as it screamed in pain. Its suffering was cut short as Norman recalled it back to its pokeball.

That sawsbuck was good, it wouldn't have been that easy if we didn't have the type advantage.

There was a brief pause after that as Norman contemplate on who to send out next. It was a welcome break for me as I tried to fight back the pain in my body. The heat from the battle had just made the pains worse and it is taking every ounce of control that I have to not scream out in pain. I gripped the handrails tightly as sweat dripped down from my brow. Only four more to go, I can do this.

Norman sent out a staraptor. Not good.

"Return, Flamel! Come on out, Snap!"

Snap roared and took to the air, sizing up his opponent. I had thought about the gym battle long and hard while I was preparing for it. Snap will be my go-to choice if it ever comes down to an aerial battle. I know he won't disappoint.

"Sandstorm!"

Snap flapped his wings and immediately summoned a sandstorm to cover the entire battlefield. Step one complete.

"Screech-sonic! Then Sonic Boom!"

Snap sent out an ear-splitting screech which temporarily threw staraptor off-balance. Snap got a few Sonic Booms in and Staraptor was immediately on the run to avoid Snap's relentless attack. Supersonic probably didn't connect given how fluidly staraptor flew. Snap gave chase, spamming Sonic Booms and trying to cut off staraptor's escape route with rock type techniques. Snap eventually managed to corner Staraptor, summoning a Rock Tomb which staraptor crashed into.

"Dragon Claw!"

Snap's claws glowed with draconic power and immediately went to slash staraptor with it.

"Mirror Move!"

A translucent mirror appeared in front of staraptor, and the effects of Dragon Claw bounced back onto Snap, causing him to back off and roar in pain. Shit, as long as staraptor knew this move, I cannot use any dragon type attacks against it. Dragon type attacks are super effective on Snap.

"Endeavour!"

Staraptor slammed itself into Snap, and the both of them fell down into the ground of the arena, raising a cloud of smoke. This is the worst possible outcome for Snap. Right now, staraptor had managed to bring Snap into the same level of health as it is, destroying Snap's health advantage against it with Endeavour.

"Close Combat!"

Shit. Norman is not planning to give us any time to rest.

"Protect!"

Staraptor slammed against Snap's Protect, clawing and shrieking with its wings and talons. Snap was gradually pushed back as staraptor continued its assault on Snap at close range.

That was his mistake.

"Screech-sonic!"

Snap probably blew staraptor's eardrums apart from the horrible sound as it tried to pull itself away from Snap. I'm not going to let that happen.

"Stone Edge!"

A large jagged rock appeared from the ground and hit staraptor in the chest and Snap followed up by slamming it back down into the ground with an Iron Tail he had learnt from an aggron on our family's farm. We are going to win.

"Flamethrower!"

Snap unleashed a breath of fire upon staraptor. I would have let him use Dragon Breath, but I was afraid of staraptor's Mirror Move, so this is the best ranged attack that we have for this situation. Snap did not master it yet by any means since he only picked it up from Flamel a few days ago, but it is good enough for him to cook his opponents.

"Brave Bird!"

In a seemingly impossible manner, staraptor quickly rose from the ground and crashed into Snap while being bathed in flames. They both collided into a large boulder that Snap summoned earlier during the initial part of the battle in a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, both were unconscious as they laid on the ground.

Damn it. We were _so_ close.

Norman sent out a gigantic exploud just as I sent Bigblue into battle. Shit, an exploud.

"Boomburst!"

Exploud roared as the ground trembled and shook from the shock wave of the terrible noise. The shock wave from Boomburst sent Bigblue skidding back as I knelt down in the challenger box in pain from both the noise and my uncooperative body.

I shouted above the noise of Boomburst, hoping that Bigblue can hear me. "Scald! Burn his mouth!"

Thankfully, Bigblue managed to pick up my voice over all this din and sent a blast of scalding hot water straight at exploud. Exploud shifted its body and Scald only managed to hit its side, but we managed to inflict a burn on him. The effect of Boomburst had also subsided and noise levels had returned to normal. I stood up and gave Bigblue his next command.

"Earthquake! Then trap it with Rock Slide!"

Bigblue shook the ground even more violently than what exploud had managed to achieve earlier. Rocks appeared in the air as it came tumbling down to where exploud was, trapping it in a mountain of rocks. This brought us a brief respite, and I need to set up the battlefield for our own use.

"Bigblue, Stealth Rock!"

Numerous jagged rocks appeared and planted itself into the ground, hidden away from the naked eye. A large part of our training other than mastering the moves from the TMs was to also learn new moves from the pokemons in our family's farm or from each other, like Stealth Rock for Bigblue and Iron Tail for Snap. I haven't asked my team to master these moves yet, only requiring them to learn enough to be proficient in it. The mastering part will have to come later after this gym battle, I do not want to spend too much time on our fifth gym in the gym circuit.

Exploud freed itself from the mountain of rocks with Hyper Voice, sending the rocks flying in all directions and crashing against the psychic barriers of the arena. It looked battered and bruised, but still able to keep going.

I need to press on my advantage, I'm not sure if Exploud knew recovery moves like Rest, but I'm not going to give him the chance to use it if that is the case.

"Whirlpool!"

Exploud got sucked into the torrent of swirling waters as it spun around. It only lasted a few seconds, as the waters suddenly stopped swirling as a veil of psychic energy covered the waters and the waters was sent back at Bigblue.

 _How on earth did this exploud managed to learn Extrasensory!?_

Bigblue was unaffected by the water as it crashed against him. He might as well be taking a shower. But that foiled whatever plans that I had cooked up against exploud as I had planned on making a swamp. I saw exploud winced as he lifted itself off the ground. The burned status from Scald must be taking its toll on it. Good, exploud is getting tired. It managed to stop a Whirlpool, I wonder if it can stop even bigger volumes of water?

"Bigblue, Surf! Drown it!"

Exploud might be able to free itself from Whirlpool, but I'd like to see it try freeing itself from the giant waves of water from Surf.

A huge wave of water came crashing down onto exploud as it tried in vain to protect itself from the raging waters. Bigblue rode the waves as exploud was dragged under it. We can finally deliver the finishing blow.

In the water, none of Bigblue's ranged attacks can get close to its targets. The physical power of rock type techniques will be diminished thanks to the buoyancy and density of water, that leaves us with the physical moves.

"Bigblue, Waterfall!"

Bigblue sped through the depths of the water and homed in on exploud as his target.

"Boomburst!"

To my horror, Bigblue was sent flying out of the waters and crashed into the ceiling of the gym before falling back down, dealing a massive amount of damage to Bigblue. How!? Boomburst wasn't that strong before! What changed?

I saw the waters receding and I widened my eyes in realisation. _Sound moves faster in water than in the air_. Damn it! I miscalculated! Of all times for the laws of physics to make its presence known! The effect of Boomburst got amplified when used underwater!

I saw Bigblue's Torrent ability kick in. We still have a chance, it's now or never.

"Solar Beam!"

Norman beat me to the punch as he commanded exploud to use Solar Beam. Exploud released the beam of light at Bigblue in such short notice that it makes it look as if exploud did not need the time to charge up the attack.

"Battering Ram!"

Bigblue used his powerful hind legs to hurl himself towards exploud with a Take Down, despite having a Solar Beam in the way, and flew through the air. Bigblue brought up the shield of Protect at the last minute and continued his charge, the momentum of Take Down bringing him closer to exploud while maintaining his hold on Protect to protect him from Solar Beam. I saw Norman's eyes widened visibly at this maneuver, and I gave a smirk.

The battering ram idea that I had for Flamel back at Mauville did not work, at least in practice, even after Flamel evolved. What I could do, is to chain two different attacks together to create a similar effect. Flamel will use Take Down to gain momentum, and when he gained enough speed, he will bring up the shields of Protect and ram into his opponents. However, the idea turned out to be better suited for Bigblue instead as Flamel is not proficient in the usage of this move horizontally on the ground, his anatomy did not really allow him to temporarily travel through the air horizontally without needing to move, and he can only use Take Down while running. Flamel is capable of vertical maneuvers of Battering Ram with Bounce, but we usually do not have the luxury of having that particular situation in our favour. I wanted to use it against sawsbuck earlier, but it retaliated with a strong Hyper Beam before we could pull it off. On the other hand, Bigblue is capable of launching himself horizontally off the ground and into the air like a missile with Take Down in almost any direction, as long as he had time to gather energy in his hind legs for a long-range catapult-like jump. The best part is that it can be used horizontally or vertically. So, the idea turned out to be better suited for Bigblue instead.

Time to turn the laws of physics back at Norman. Newton's first law: an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. This basically described the laws of inertia, that an object in motion will continue its motion unless it met a force of obstruction. Newton's second law: the force exerted by an object equals to the mass multiplied by its acceleration. An average swampert weighs about 80 kilos, and the acceleration from Take Down is frightening. The resulting force can only be more frightening. There is no Newton in this world, but his law from the previous world still applies in this world. The air resistance that Bigblue faced is negligible compared to the speed he is going, so technically after launching himself off the ground, it is the momentum from Take Down that carries Bigblue forward. Bigblue is _not_ actively moving, just letting himself get _carried_ by the momentum. Anyone remember one of the drawbacks of using Protect? The user _cannot move_. Well, Bigblue is not moving in this case, and he can gather enough focus to use a Protect while the momentum sends him flying closer to his opponent.

Bigblue crashed into exploud, and Bigblue pinned it to the ground.

"Hammer Arm!"

Bigblue swung his arm and gave exploud a strong, heavy blow on its head, taking it out.

Three pokemon down.

My breaths are getting shorter, and my legs are getting wobbly. There are two more to go and I really want to end this soon.

"Slaking! Come on out!"

The ground shook as slaking appeared for battle. The rocks from stealth rock flew from within the ground and struck it. Slaking wasn't even fazed.

This guy is tough, I can see that.

From what I knew, Norman is an expert on the slaking species. Slaking's ability is Truant, and the owner of said ability usually display this ability by needing time to rest in battle after delivering a single attack. This ability is almost exclusive to the slaking and slakoth species, and sometimes found in the durant species, although such cases are rare. However, for slaking's case, the Truant ability is prominent in its species because slaking's anatomy is weirdly built. Slaking cannot release energy in small, controlled bursts. Every attack it uses are all-or-nothing. Every single attack it launches at its opponent are over-powered, releasing all its pent-up energy in one go. After that, it have to rest to store energy for its next attack. This is why slakings are unable to fire off attacks consecutively. In the wild, this isn't a real concern. There are very little pokemon that can survive a fully powered attack by slaking. However, in trainer battles, this can be a setback despite the fact that slaking can launch over-powered moves. Elite trainers worth their salt can take advantage of the time slaking needed to rest to end the battle, hence slakings are not highly favoured among trainers. That's why Norman is so impressive. Not a single challenger thus far has managed to beat his starter, a slaking, in battle. The furthest anyone has gotten while facing off his starter in an official gym battle was to last six moves from his slaking before their entire team got wiped out.

One move for one pokemon, every single move was a one-hit KO.

There are ways to get around the Truant ability, the most well-known one is by using Skill Swap in double battles with help from slaking's partner pokemon. The effects of removing Truant on slaking is like removing some kind of limiter, allowing slaking to battle without rest. However, such moves are not recommended. Energy has to come from somewhere. Firing off attacks consecutively without rest will severely drain slaking to the point of death. There are rumours that Norman's slaking is capable of surviving such a maneuver, but no one has been able to confirm it.

No one had managed to push Norman to that point.

This slaking is not his starter, but even Bigblue is not suitable to fight it in a contest of strength. No one on my team can, so I recalled him.

Nobody said that I need to face slaking in a contest of strength.

I released Dolly out of her pokeball as she floated into battle. I knew there was a high chance I would be facing slaking, the trademark pokemon of Norman, and I planned on letting Dolly battle it. Dolly's ghost type attacks are unable to affect it, but his slaking's normal type attack cannot affect Dolly too. That will limit his options and cut down his firepower. On the other hand, Dolly have many other moves in her arsenal other than ghost type moves. She is the most suitable in fighting slaking.

"Dolly! Anti-tank maneuvers!"

Dolly reappeared beside slaking from its shadows and used Toxic on slaking. Hex will not have any effect on slaking, so she settled for using a Dark Pulse and blasted it at slaking's face.

Slaking didn't even flinch.

"Get out of there!"

Dolly barely managed to make it out as slaking's Shadow Claw gouged out a huge crater in the ground, reshaping the arena in an instant. A normal Shadow Claw will only leave deep claw marks on the ground at most.

Such insane power, how did Vance survive an attack from a herd of slakings two years ago?

Slaking will not be able to attack for some time after that Shadow Claw, and Dolly took the opportunity to blast it with a combination of electric type attacks, hoping to numb its nerves enough to slow it down later on. She fired Charge Beams, Thunderbolts and Shock Waves while slaking just stood there like an immovable stone, her attacks leaving no traces of damage on it.

 _Just what do I need to take down this guy!? URGH!_

My right hand clutched tightly onto the area of my shirt right above where my heart was. I don't think I can last much longer. I braced myself and saw Dolly glancing at me worriedly. I returned a pained smile and gave out my next command.

"Psychic!"

Dolly let out a wave of psychic energy that wrapped around slaking's frame and send it flying upwards before letting it crash onto the ground below. She levitated the rocks around the area and attempt to bury slaking alive.

Slaking merely gave an angry roar as it batted the rocks away and Norman gave out his next command.

"Shadow Ball!"

Any Naruto fans here? Remember how Kurama managed to form a tailed-beast ball inside Naruto's mindscape right after Naruto snatched away its powers on turtle island? Do you remember the over-sized tailed-beast ball formed by Kurama that eclipsed its entire body size?

You are looking at the Shadow Ball version of it here, except that there is an angry gorilla instead of a nine-tailed fox.

The Shadow Ball formed by slaking was so huge that it looked like a miniature black moon had appeared. Dolly had nowhere to hide. The debris scattered across the arena is not sturdy enough to block slaking's Shadow Ball. She cannot hide in the shadows as the ghostly energy from Shadow Ball will still harm her when it collides with the shadow.

There is only one thing she can do to defend herself.

"Protect!"

I love this move, it saved my team more than once in this battle. It is my best investment thus far and the price of the TM is not even as expensive as the other TMs that I bought.

The Shadow Ball slammed into Dolly's Protect. What I wasn't expecting was for the Shadow Ball to carry on its momentum without stopping and pushed Dolly back all the way to the edge of the arena until Dolly slammed into where the psychic barriers are.

Dolly emerged from the resulting smoke. She was protected from the Shadow Ball, but the force of collision against the psychic barriers had to be painful. If slaking fired off a few more of those, Dolly will get screwed one way or another.

"Dolly, return!"

I sent out Kel, and she immediately fired off several Night Slashes.

"Prediction tactics!"

Kel's eyes glowed briefly as the wind currents changed, and she continued her assault. Kel unleashed any and all attacks she knew. From Stone Edge, Ice Beam, Shock Wave, and the assortment of dark type moves she learnt before she joined me. Slaking took them all, and still looked relatively healthy. Wasn't it supposed to look at least a _little_ affected by Dolly's Toxic?

After a bombardment of attacks from Kel, slaking is ready to attack again. Upon Norman's command, slaking prepared a gigantic Focus Blast the same size as his Shadow Ball previously. I grinned, it is just the move that I hoped Norman will use.

"Kel, Me First!"

Kel immediately unleashed a Focus Blast that is even bigger than slaking's and send it crashing into slaking, disrupting his focus on its own Focus Blast. A big explosion followed suit. Me First is an attack that steals the target's intended move and return it with an even greater power. I was banking on Norman to use a fighting type move on Kel, as that was her only weakness when it comes to pokemon typing, aside from bug and fairy types. It is unlikely that slaking will know and use bug or fairy type moves, so I was expecting something like a Focus Blast. The best part? Slaking's only weakness, typing wise, are also fighting type moves. Slaking will be feeling the effects of that Focus Blast, that's for sure.

To my utter horror, that monster of a slaking remained standing after taking that Focus Blast.

"Unleash Prediction!"

Right on cue, Razor Winds that Kel had previously prepared swirled. The blades of wind collided against slaking which caused it to take a few steps back. A Future Sight attack that Kel had also prepared beforehand unleashed itself as a wave of psychic energy onto slaking, who finally gave a scream.

Kel may be too tired to temporarily pull off any moves after that over-powered Focus Blast, but she can still direct the attacks that she prepared beforehand.

Norman frowned before shouting out his orders. "Feint Attack!"

Slaking immediately dashed across the arena and punched Kel, sending her flying and colliding with the debris. She was punched _through_ the numerous debris and did not stop flying until she slammed into the psychic barriers. Kel laid unconscious on the ground, that Feint Attack took her out of the battle.

One move. Slaking took Kel out with one move, and it was a dark type move that Kel had a natural resistance to.

 _Just how strong is this slaking?_

I sent out Flamel, that slaking could not be feeling too good after all the attacks it received from Dolly and Kel. Dolly's Toxic ought to have some effect on it, and it had been quite some time since he was inflicted with it.

"Sunny Day! Then burn it down!"

Flamel unleashed waves of flames as light shone onto the battlefield, increasing the potency of his flames. Slaking braved through the flames as it walked closer to Flamel as Flamel tried to keep his distance by increasing the output of his fire attacks. Flamel cannot face slaking in a melee fight. It was no use. Slaking slowly made its way towards Flamel and soon forced Flamel into a corner of the arena.

It was then I realised that Norman's slaking must have took too much damage to be able to continue battling for any longer, and it planned to take Flamel down with it.

I gritted my teeth. _So this is how he wants to play it?_ Fine.

"Overheat! Full power!"

"Facade! Take it down!"

Flamel unleashed his Overheat again, this time on slaking, as slaking charged and punched Flamel into the ground, the Facade gaining extra power from slaking's poisoned status. Flamel didn't get back up, and slaking remained standing for a few seconds before succumbing to its injuries and fell face-first into the ground, unconscious.

Norman have one pokemon left, I have Bigblue and Dolly. This could go either way, and I really hoped that his next pokemon isn't another slaking.

He sent out a Blissey as it endured the Stealth Rock. _Oh, come on._

Blissey will be one annoying foe to fight against, especially with all the recovery moves it have at its disposal.

But blissey is also Norman's last pokemon. I have a plan in mind, but Dolly is not going to enjoy this.

I sent Dolly out again. She still looked tired from receiving slaking's Shadow Ball, even if she managed to prevent direct damage to herself.

"Dolly, Suicide!"

Dolly howled as she disappeared into the shadows once more, and a painful yelp from blissey told me that Dolly had successfully used Toxic on it. I'm not sure if blissey knows any moves that can remove the poison from its system. But I know for sure that Dolly can place something on blissey that it cannot remove short of returning to its pokeball, which is impossible considering it is Norman's last pokemon.

Dolly reappeared on my side of the arena and gave a ghostly glowed as she shrieked. A ghostly energy that originated from Dolly entered blissey as it grimaced in pain. Thankfully, Dolly did not faint from the usage of that move.

I finally gave Dolly permission to use Curse, a part of her Suicide combo.

For any other pokemon other than ghost types, using Curse will simply raise both its offensive and defensive capabilities at the expense of lowering its speed. For ghost types, they have to sacrifice part of their health to inflict a curse on their target that saps away at the health of the opponent, slowly sending them to their doom. Using such a move has its drawbacks, as using it while the ghost is low on health can send the ghost straight to unconsciousness, or even death, if they used it while on extremely low health.

Blissey still remained very healthy while Dolly seemed to be on her last legs. Time to change that.

"Dolly, Pain Split!"

Dolly shot forward and collided with blissey. The effect is instantaneous. Dolly immediately retreated as the health she stole from blissey slowly healed her wounds while blissey cried out at having its health so forcefully taken away from it.

"Soft-Boiled!"

Blissey's egg glowed in its pouch as it healed itself back. It doesn't matter. Blissey can heal as much as it wants, Dolly will simply steal its health with Pain-Split or Snatch the next time. Blissey's health is still being affected by Toxic and Curse despite the heal, it is a waiting game now. All I need is to defend and steal blissey's health while waiting for Toxic and Curse to bring it down. I just have to play defensively.

"Shadow Ball!"

Blissey threw a Shadow Ball barrage at Dolly, who evaded with ease. Dolly fired back with a Charge Beam. _How do I prevent blissey from using recovery moves? Oh wait, there is that move that she learnt not too long ago from Kel._

"Dolly, Taunt! Then Pain Split again!"

Dolly stole health from blissey again, but this time, there's no way it can heal itself with Taunt activated.

"Dolly! Use-ARGH!"

I was forced on my knees as a sudden increased wave of pain washed over me. I bit my lips and stood up, cold sweat dripping from my forehead. I cannot falter now.

Norman looked concerned at my condition and looked as if he wanted to pause the battle. I shook my head, and he nodded back after a short while. He respected my wish to continue the battle and barked out a command to blissey.

"Thunderbolt!"

Intense levels of electricity crackled over blissey's body as she sent it into the ground, ripping the arena from beneath and sent a wave of debris and lightning rolling in Dolly's direction.

"Protect!"

Dolly shielded herself from the attack. Dolly seemed impatient, as if she wanted to end the battle quickly. She most probably realised that my body cannot hold on much longer and the faster she ended the battle, the faster I can go and rest.

I was touched by Dolly's actions, but we cannot trip over our feet now.

"Dolly, focus! Don't worry about me now! Don't let our friends' effort go to waste!"

Dolly grudgingly followed my orders as she chattered from her location. My vision is darkening, and my senses are dulling, I'm trying very hard not to faint on the spot. I probably have 5 minutes, tops, before I succumb to whatever that ails me.

Maybe Dolly is right. I need to end this soon.

Blissey sent out an AOE Thunderbolt again. Dolly had nowhere to hide, unless she creates a hiding place for herself.

"Dolly, Phantom Force!"

Dolly vanished just as the Thunderbolt came roaring at her. Phantom Force is a ghost type move that allows the user to disappear and attack from another location. The attack from Phantom Force's will not affect blissey since blissey is a normal type, but all I wanted was to create a hiding space for Dolly.

Dolly appeared behind blissey, her own Thunderbolt crackling and primed to fire. She was about to blast blissey with it when blissey suddenly spun around and blasted Dolly with a Fire Blast instead.

"Shadow Ball! Don't let up!"

Blissey fired Shadow Balls after Shadow Balls, while Dolly tried to dodge blissey's assault and blocked unavoidable attacks. One Shadow Ball did manage to hit Dolly, and she spiraled in the air briefly before she righted herself.

"Thunderbolt! End it!"

Blissey was too close to Dolly, and Dolly was forced to fly high up in the air from the previous assault, making it impossible for her to dive back into the shadows in time. I don't think she can avoid this.

"Protect!"

Dolly tried to bring up a shield just as blissey's Thunderbolt shot towards her. Dolly was unable to gather enough focus for Protect as the shield sputtered and vanish. The Thunderbolt zapped Dolly and she laid on the ground in a smoking heap.

Fuck.

I sent out Bigblue, who is my only pokemon left for this battle. He is still terribly injured from his battle with exploud as his Torrent ability kicked in once again. I winced in pain, and this time I could not prevent the whimper that escaped my lips. My vision is getting blurry and I could hardly make out what is in front of me. My breaths are getting shorter and I could feel my heart working overtime.

 _Just one more minute! I cannot fall now! We've come so far! We need to win this! We can win this!_

Seeing as how blissey somehow still looked healthier than Bigblue after the onslaught of attacks from Dolly and her Suicide combo, I decided to even the odds. I'm not sure if Taunt is still active after Dolly was taken down. I need to keep up the pressure in case Taunt's effect is gone. Time to give Norman a taste of his own medicine from earlier.

"Bigblue, Endeavour!"

Bigblue slammed into blissey and the Endeavour attack now left the both of them with equal amounts of health, which is not much. Blissey was starting to feel the toll of Toxic and Curse that Dolly had inflicted on it and struggled to remain standing on its feet. Bigblue seemed equally tired and looked as if he could collapse at any time. Both of them can be taken out with a single move from their opponent, it now boils down to a matter of speed. Surf would be better in terms of power, but it takes too long to execute. Only one move left then.

I struggled to stay conscious, and I think I saw Bigblue glancing at me worriedly through my blurry vision.

"SCALD!"

"SHADOW BALL!"

Norman and I both roared our commands at the same time just as our pokemons unleashed their attacks. Bigblue shot out a powerful stream of boiling hot water out of his mouth, empowered by Torrent while blissey threw a massive Shadow Ball at him. Bigblue suddenly swerved his head while still blasting water from his mouth and used the continuous stream of water from Scald like a baseball bat to hit the underside of blissey's Shadow Ball, knocking it away from him. He then pounced on blissey, roaring savagely and proceeded to punch blissey repeatedly with Hammer Arm.

Bigblue had decided to take the initiative to end the battle quickly in his own terms. If the Shadow Ball and Scald collided, they would have just cancelled each other out and the battle will just continue as it is until blissey fell to Dolly's Toxic and Curse combo. We would have won the battle either way. He could have waited it out and employed defensive tactics with his rock techniques and Protect, we had went through this scenario. Bigblue is fully capable of defending himself even in this state, but he does not want to drag it out any longer.

For my sake.

He wanted to let me witness our victory while I'm still conscious.

"Big...Blue..."

I could feel my legs weakening as I struggled to stand, my words slurred out of my mouth as I finally surrendered to the pain. My hands loosened its grip on the handrails as I saw Bigblue running towards me away from the fallen blissey, roaring worriedly at me. I could also make out Norman's blurry figure as he ran to where I was, and I think I heard him shouting at me to stay awake. My legs buckled, and I fell painfully onto the ground, but I was too tired to scream out in pain. All I could see were darkness as I heard muffled sounds around me. I used the last of my strength to fumble for Bigblue's pokeball. He might have won, but he is too injured, and it will be dangerous to leave him outside his pokeball for too long.

I managed to tap onto the release button on Bigblue's pokeball to recall him, and I knew no more.

* * *

 **AN: Another gym battle chapter done. This one took more than ten hours to complete, but I think it is worth it. I have to do research on the pokemons used in this battle while writing, and counted 13 tabs on my google chrome after I finished writing this. You guys have expressed that you enjoyed the chapter on the Lavaridge gym battle, so I decided to write about the Petalburg gym battle as well. Honestly, I never planned to write out every single gym leader battle initially, IJWTTTW isn't meant to be a long story, and I was planning to skip out some of the gym battles. But if you guys want it, I will try to deliver. You guys have high expectations ever since I published the Lavaridge chapter, and I felt a little stressed trying to meet and if possible, exceed your expectations for me. I am touched, really. The fact that y'all enjoyed the chapter so much means my skills as an amateur writer has been acknowledged. It is a big thing for me, since this is the first story I have ever written in my life outside of school work (I never got a good grade for those).**

 **So, as thanks, I will try to write out every gym battle if possible. It will be a challenge, since there will definitely be an Ever Grande arc, which means more battles to write outside of gym battles, and it has to be more exciting than gym battles to qualify for an Ever Grande battle.**

 **The name of the gym trainer rooms were taken from Omega Ruby/Sapphire, if you were wondering. Zero Reduction room was originally Confusion room in Emerald. It sounded weird, so I took the naming from Omega Ruby/Sapphire as it made more sense.**

 **As usual, I have to use my imagination to come up with various scenarios and possible usages of pokemon moves. The most important thing that I have to plan out is to decide which pokemon of Velda's will fight which pokemon from Norman, ie who vs who. I have to plan from a challenger's perspective. I have to think that if I am the challenger, who will I use against whom, and why? What is the purpose of sending this particular pokemon out to battle? Once that is done, I looked through the lists of moves of both pokemons from Pokemon Database to see what I could possibly and realistically use. I hold off on using the OP moves, Velda and her team are not on that level yet. So I have to choose from the more common ones. A lot of the scenarios in this chapter, believe it or not, are planned on the spot while writing. Yeah, sounds unbelievable, but it's how I wrote every gym battle so far, excluding Rustboro's, that was planned a long time ago. I'm most proud of the idea of Kel's Me First to turn the tide around on slaking. I am not familiar with the move, and nearly dismissed it until I clicked on the attack's description. The moment I saw the description of Me First, I knew I have to use it because the idea was so fun.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I took an entire day writing it, and took a lot of time trying to proof-read and minimising any mistakes and inconsistencies. I pray that this chapter will at least meet your expectations, hopefully surpassing it. Do let me know.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 11, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmander (Toothless), male**

 **7) Lileep (Lily), female**


	11. Chapter 11- Change

I hummed a tune as I rode on Flamel's back, slowly making our way back home from Petalburg gym. Kel strolled along beside us as Dolly chattered to me while sitting on Flamel's back at my front. Snap flew lazily above us while showing off the new flying maneuvers he had learnt. Toothless had just been introduced to the wonderful world of marshmallows and is currently trying to roast a stick of it without catching the entire thing on fire, holding the stick of the sweet goodness with his right front limb, the left front limb holding his unstable tail-flame underneath the stick of marshmallows to roast it. I remind myself to keep an eye on his sugar intake, can't have him eat too many of those. Bigblue and Lily preferred to stay in their pokeballs as they do not enjoy traversing flat terrain. Our newest members, Rena and Fuzzy, traveled with us as well. Rena walked alongside Kel while Fuzzy perched on my left shoulder and draped his tail around the back of my neck like a scarf.

Eight months have passed since my fainting spell back at the Petalburg gym challenge.

I was in a coma for two weeks before I woke up in the hospital. Norman was able to stabilise my condition with a Heal Pulse from another blissey he had on hand and rushed me to the hospital. Mum hugged me tightly after I woke up and berated me for being an idiot, saying that I could always take the gym challenge another day and I shouldn't have pushed myself if I was not feeling well. All was well until the conversation took a turn for the worst when she wanted to force me to quit being a trainer, and to let me live the rest of my life on the farm instead given how bad my fainting spell was. Naturally, I wasn't happy about the arrangement, and I threw my first and biggest tantrum ever since I came into this world. Dad had to interfere before things got sour between me and Mum. Maybe it was because she wasn't a trainer, but I don't think she understood how I felt about quitting the gym challenge halfway. The gym challenge wasn't easy even at the gym trainers portion of the challenge, and we were doing so well too. There were no guarantees that we could perform as well as we did if we gave up halfway just to return another time. She doesn't understand that as a trainer, I have the responsibility of not letting my pokemon down as well, and I have to meet their expectations just as I expect them to meet mine. She just doesn't _understand_. Can't she see my achievements? I daresay that less than 5% of the trainers in Hoenn had managed to win five gym badges in their gym circuit on their first try by defeating the respective gym leaders. I know she wants the best for me, but what _she_ feels is the best for me is not what _I_ wanted in life.

Dad and Vance didn't say much other than asking how I felt after I woke up. Dad was a trainer and Vance is in ACE, so they could relate to a certain extent as to why I pushed on despite my condition. That didn't stop them for giving me a good scolding, and I took it since it was well-deserved. What I had done was very irresponsible and I had worried my entire family. The doctors had mentioned that if Norman's blissey did not use Heal Pulse to stabilise my condition until the doctors in the hospital took over, I might not have woke up at all.

I was discharged another two weeks later. However, the doctors imposed a six month travel ban on me, saying that although I am well enough to go about doing my daily activities, I am not fit enough to travel outside Petalburg. They wanted me to go to the hospital for a checkup every month until the six months are up, and the travel ban will only be lifted if my recovery was satisfactory.

That disrupted any plans I had for my gym circuit. By the time I was discharged it was already the end of February. An additional travel ban of 6 months would mean that I could only continue my travels at the end of August. However, the annual Ever Grande Conference starts at the start of August every year, and ends on the end of August. I would have missed the opportunity to compete in the Ever Grande Conference.

Vance only gave me a pat on my head while trying to comfort me, saying that it was a pity that his favourite little sister would miss out participating in the Ever Grande Conference for that year. He admitted that my performance in the gym circuit was outstanding, and that I actually had a mini cheer-leading squad in the form of his ACE comrades who he usually shared my exploits to. They actually believed that I had a chance of finishing the gym circuit within a year, similar to Steven Stone, due to the fact that I earned five gym badges within five months after the start of my journey. There was even a secret betting pool among them on how long I would actually take to finish my gym circuit. I also noted with amusement that my untimely travel ban had caused the majority of them to lose their bet.

Inwardly, I was touched at the amount of support that these people gave me, even though I had never met them. Outwardly, I retorted that I am Vance's favourite little sister since I am his only little sister.

Norman had visited me a few times as well after I woke up. He also presented to me the Balance Badge and the Facade TM. However, he was a busy man, and only stayed for about 10 minutes each time he visited before he had to go somewhere to fulfill his gym leader duties. Apparently, there is more to being a gym leader than waiting for challengers in their gym the whole day.

I spent the first week after my discharge from the hospital at home, helping out on the farm and to continue training my pokemon. My pokemon had gotten very protective of me since I got admitted into the hospital. They had even came up with their own protocols when it comes to dealing with my stubbornness. If they think that I looked too tired while conducting their training, they would just stop whatever they were doing at once in an impressive show of teamwork and shepherd me away from the training area into a shady spot away from the sun, or simply carry me back home, much to my fond exasperation. No matter what I say, they will just stare at me with _the look_ , and continue to stare at me in silence until I gave in and went along with whatever they think is safe for me to do. Usually I will just sit down beneath the shade of a nearby tree while they crowd around me, and we will just spend time together in comfortable silence.

After spending the first week at home after my discharge, I got bored and restless. It's not like I don't enjoy being at home or helping out on the farm. It's just that after travelling to so many places for the past five months, spending my time at home following a mundane routine made me feel like a prisoner in my own home. The only thing that momentarily brought me out from my boredom were the calls from the gym leaders that I had challenged before. If I had to hazard a guess, Norman must have told them what happened to me. Flannery kept asking me repeatedly if I was alright, Wattson made bad puns while laughing in his trademark 'WAHAHA' laugh after learning that I am now fine, Brawly expressed an interest to battle me again after my health got better and I became an Elite trainer. The first thing Roxanne did when I answered her call was to scream ' _What were you thinking when you challenged **Norman** in that condition?!_' at me before acting like a mother hen, asking questions to determine if I was truly fine.

The gym leaders all congratulated on my win against Norman. They had saw our battle when Norman sent them a video of it. They said that it was one of the best battles that they had seen from an intermediate trainer. Roxanne told me that I should be proud of my win, since it was Norman I was facing even if it was a battle of the intermediate level. She also told me in secret that no one she knew, including the other gym leaders, knew how strong Norman truly is due to the secretive nature of his previous job. None of the gym leaders had saw Norman using his main team in a serious battle against anyone else before. To add on, Norman is a recluse that rarely spoke and interacted with others unless necessary. Roxanne suspected that Norman's prowess as a trainer might be as powerful as Juan, but neither of them confirmed or denied anything, and they saw no reason to battle each other.

Roxanne's description of Norman was why I was so surprised that he was the one who saved me from my otherwise monotonous life for the next six months.

When he got wind of my six month travel ban, he came to my house personally with the offer to work under him at the Petalburg gym as a freelance gym trainer. I immediately accepted the offer, much to my mother's annoyance, since she thinks that I am the safest when I am at home where she could keep an eye on me. In my opinion, being a gym trainer is the best possible arrangement given my circumstances. I have a steady flow of income ( _not that I need the money since my family is one of the richest families in the world_ ), I can get out of the house ( _FREEDOM!_ ), I can continue training ( _some of them will be conducted by Norman, which is the main reason I accepted the offer_ ), and I can continue to participate in battles ( _and I do not even need to look for battles since the battles will come to me naturally_ ). Dad just rolled his eyes at my quick acceptance before reminding me to take better care of my body, and invited Norman inside our house for a cup of tea. Norman coming over to our house for tea soon became a common occurrence as he and Dad slowly became good friends despite their age gap, and it wasn't long until our family would frequently visit him at his house, situated beside the gym, for tea as well. Their conversation usually revolves around pokemon, the latest happenings in Hoenn, or news about world politics. After learning that Norman had a toddler child, Dad and Mum will also share tips with Norman on how to take care of children based on their experience in raising me and Vance. I highly doubt that Norman would need to apply any of the tips he learnt from my parents since Vance is the number one trouble magnet in Hoenn while I was an adult in a child's body. We weren't normal by any means.

I also met his daughter May, who is only a toddler at a year old when I first visited Norman's house. Looking at her, I still couldn't tell which pokemon universe I am in. If this was the anime verse, she would be a pokemon coordinator that will become a good friend of Ash Ketchum. If this is the game verse, she would probably be the future hero in taking out Team Magma and Team Aqua in the future, putting a stop to their reign, and eventually become the Hoenn Champion. She also could be the May counterpart of another universe of the pokemon franchise that I am not aware of in my previous life, or this world could be an entirely different pokemon universe altogether. Just thinking of it made my head hurt, and I settled on waiting for Max's possible appearance in a few years to see if this world that I landed in belongs to the anime verse. I could also fly to Pallet Town in Kanto to see if Ash Ketchum existed, but a foreigner actively looking for him in a foreign land when there was no possible way for us to know each other beforehand would raise a lot of suspicions. Furthermore, Ash would also be a toddler as well.

If this is the anime verse, I am staying the hell away from Ash Ketchum. That guy gets into more trouble than Vance in one anime season compared to Vance's 18 years of life in this world.

The very first thing I experienced when I entered Petalburg gym as a gym trainer was to get a stern reprimand from Norman. He reminded me that what I did was very irresponsible, and that I could simply request to pause my gym challenge the moment I felt unwell. Norman also told me that he would have approve to let me continue my gym challenge from where I left off the moment I recovered, and I was embarrassed since I did not consider that such an arrangement could be an option as well. I was of the impression that a completed gym challenge will only be acknowledged if it was completed in one sitting. Norman merely replied that if there was a very good reason in allowing a challenger to take a pause from the gym challenge, it can be arranged upon the gym leader's approval. He showed me a record book of a list of trainers who had to pause their Petalburg gym challenge and continued from where they left off, approved by him or his predecessor. There were many reasons listed, although most of them were medical reasons. I should have read the official gym circuit handbook given out by the Hoenn League to novice trainers. This particular arrangement was written on page 8 of the handbook under ' _Special arrangements allowed in gym challenges_ '.

Being a gym trainer was an eye-opener. There were more gym trainers in Petalburg gym than the original seven I faced, since most of them were freelancers. The turnover rate of gym trainers is high and they changed on a yearly basis as being a gym trainer was a temporary job for most of them. Most gym trainers are advanced trainers that had already completed their gym circuit and were training for the upcoming Ever Grande Conference, some of them were of the Elite level. The main reason why most of them applied to be a gym trainer was because one of the perks of being a gym trainer was to have the chance to be trained by the gym leader themselves. Most gym trainers are Specialists, and they will try to apply to work under the gym leader that had the same specialisation as them, although it may not always be the case, like in mine. Some of the gym trainers worked at the gym full-time, for the sake of having a stable job or other personal reasons, and they tend to be older than the freelancers. Petalburg had 10 gym trainers including me when I first joined, and they welcomed me with open arms despite the fact that I defeated most of them in my gym challenge previously. I was the youngest member there at 11 years old, and probably the youngest gym trainer in Hoenn when I joined.

I felt embarrassed for a second time when I found out that the Petalburg gym trainers were at least advanced trainers in skill with all eight badges under their belt, and that I only defeated them so easily since the pokemon that they used doesn't even belong to them to begin with. Pokemons that gym trainers used are provided by the league, and part of their duties were to train pokemons for the league's use. Many trainers under the employment of the Hoenn League worked in dangerous environment, especially the Rangers and ACE operatives, and it is not uncommon for their pokemon to lose their lives while performing their duties under perilous conditions. Some of these trainers would choose to find another pokemon on their own to replace the ones they lost, a majority of them will choose from the pokemons offered by the Hoenn League. These pokemons offered by the Hoenn League are pokemons that were trained by gym trainers. If the trainer needing a replacement wanted a more untrained pokemon so that they could personally mold them into their liking, they will usually choose a pokemon trained by the gym in the earlier part of the gym circuit, like Rustboro, Dewford, or Mauville. If they preferred a fully evolved and highly trained pokemon, picking a pokemon trained by the gym in the later part of the gym circuit, like Mossdeep or Sootopolis, would be a better choice, although they will have to spend more time in letting them fit into their team. Some prefer to choose pokemons that were only partially trained, and would choose pokemons trained by the gyms that were responsible in testing intermediate trainers, like Petalburg. It is an interesting arrangement, and it serves to maintain Hoenn's military might by ensuring that trainers under their employment will always have pokemon to replace the ones that they lost while on duty.

Hoenn gym trainers will usually use the pokemons loaned to them by the Hoenn League in gym challenges unless the gym challenge is on the Elite level. In this case, the pokemons provided by the Hoenn League are often unqualified for challenges on the Elite level, and gym trainers are allowed to use their own pokemon team against the challenger. Most of these gym trainers have the same specialisation as the gym leader they are working under, so Elite trainers do not need to worry about facing a wide variety of specialisations against gym trainers. There will always be a few gym trainers that doesn't have the same specialisation as represented by the gym, but Elite trainers are expected to handle all kinds of different circumstances, so this arrangement was allowed by the Hoenn League.

When Norman reviewed the battle we had, he decided to place me in the Defense Room of his gym, which currently lacks a gym trainer as the one I had previously battled quit as a gym trainer shortly after I woke up from my coma. The other gym trainers are fine with being stationed in this room, but they prefer their original rooms more. The more important reason was that Norman needed a minimum of 10 competent gym trainers working under him so that the gym trainers can rotate their working days comfortably without being overtaxed. A large part of why Norman placed me in the Defense Room was because he was impressed at my ingenious use of Protect, and Bigblue's and Lily's defensive abilities have caught his eye as well. He also gave some pointers on how I could do better in that battle we had, like how Dolly could use Phantom Force to dodge slaking's Shadow Ball instead of defending with Protect to save her from unneeded damage, which I didn't think of at that point in time. He also told me that it was a bad idea to face pokemons who primarily uses sound-based attacks in an underwater battle due to how well they complement each other, as displayed in Bigblue's battle against his exploud.

Norman loaned three pokemons to me that were to be used against intermediate trainers. I remembered very clearly the conversation I had with him when I first found out what kind of pokemons he had entrusted into my care.

"Sir, you just loaned to me a chansey, a zangoose, and an _eevee_. Each of these are rare, especially eevee, and you are entrusting them to _me_ , an 11 year old. What if people find out that they are in my possession and decided to steal them from me?"

"Call me Norman, Velda. And I am sure that they will be safe in your care." Norman then began to count the list of reasons on why I am the most suitable candidate. "Firstly, you are from the Vera family, who have dealt with many rare pokemons despite your young age. I do not need to worry that you will run off with these rare pokemons when I entrust them to you since you can easily get any of those from your farm, or through your family's connections. You have a regional starter and a prehistoric pokemon with you, each of them is worth at least ten times more than the three of them combined, and they are still safe with you. Secondly, after defeating me in battle at the intermediate level, you are at least an advanced trainer in strength. Not even Elite trainers will have an easy time trying to snatch the loaned pokemon from you. You will be staying at your house during your time here as a gym trainer, which is only a 20 minute walk away. Petalburg is one of the safest towns in Hoenn, and you are capable of defending yourself until help arrives. Thirdly, if someone is actually capable enough to snatch these pokemon from you, they have _me_ to deal with. I may not be the strongest trainer in Hoenn, but I was one of the best trackers in ACE. Not to toot my own horn, but no one can hide from me if I really want to find them, including Wallace. He tried."

The only thing I could do after that was to gape in awe that even the Hoenn Champion is unable to hide from Norman. I accepted the fact that I was entrusted with three rare pokemons, and it is now my duty to train them to the best of my ability.

My time at Petalburg gym as a gym trainer was fun. The layout of the rooms are as such: Speed Room and Accuracy Room will be possible options to be chosen as the first room, Zero Reduction Room, Defense Room, and Recovery Room are the possible options to be chosen as the second room, and either the Strength Room and One-Hit KO Room will be the last rooms to challenge, assuming that challengers only chose to battle the minimum of three gym trainers. I battled with the loaned pokemons against other intermediate trainers who came for the Balance Badge, and decimated most of them with glee. The other gym trainers had nicknamed me "Mt Coronet" after the real mountain in Sinnoh, which is part of the mountain range that divided the east and west parts of Sinnoh. It was unscaled and unconquered until someone dug a tunnel through it in the warring states era, allowing the first Sinnoh Champion to lead his troops through the mountain range to conquer and unite the whole of Sinnoh. They likened my high success rate of preventing challengers to reach the third rooms and Norman with Mt Coronet's ability in preventing people from easily travelling between east and west Sinnoh, and I wasn't sure if I should be amused or annoyed at their sense of humour.

My notoriety in preventing challengers from earning the Balance Badge got me a special mention in the online forums. Most trainers had suggested a "flee on sight" approach for aspiring challengers if they ever saw the Defense Room.

In response, Norman just shifted me into different rooms every time I reported for work at the gym.

My working hours were from 10am to 7pm, with a one hour lunch break from 1pm to 2pm and one hour tea break from 4pm to 5pm. The gym only opens on weekdays and operates on a five day workweek. I will send my team to train with Norman's pokemon from his main team at the greenhouse located at the back of his gym while I battled challengers. There were only two instances that I have to battle Elite trainers with my own team, and I witnessed first hand on how strong an Elite trainer should be as they swept through my entire team without much effort, even if I managed to bring down at least one of their pokemon. Elite challengers were rare at this stage of the gym circuit since most of the Elite trainers were stopped by Wattson at the third gym in the circuit, who had years of experience in foiling gym challenges for Elite trainers.

Norman will also find time to train the gym trainers individually at least once a month in person, and it was the most valuable experience I had in my journey as a trainer. He said that I have proved that I am proficient in the seven aspects of battling, especially in defense, and that I am knowledgeable enough about pokemon. Hence, most of my training with Norman was spent on learning and practicing battle tactics, something which he drilled relentlessly into my head. He also told me to take this chance during my time as a gym trainer to let my pokemon learn and master as many moves as possible from his own pokemon, something which they were eager to do so.

Many things changed during the eight months I spent at Petalburg gym. Puberty had struck me like a speeding train and I grew like a weed. I am still a little short for a 12 year old, but at least now I looked like a 12 year old as compared to looking like a 9 year old when I was 11 the previous year. I had started to grow my curves at the chest and hip areas, and while they are not overly curvy, they are visible enough to pass me off as a growing teenager instead of a little kid. Many of the townsfolk had said that I am probably the most beautiful girl in the age group, which made me blush. I had inherited good genes from my mother, who looked more like she is in her thirties when she is in fact in her forties. Vance had commented that I have a "more elegant feel" to me now, something which he thought wasn't possible. That comment earned him a hard kick to his shin.

My pokemon had changed as well. Apart from learning new moves and undergoing vigorous training, some of them had evolved. Lily had evolved into a cradily, and had proved her worth to the other members of the team by consistently taking them on all at once and managed to hold her ground, earning the title of the best defensive battler on the team. Toothless had evolved into a charmeleon, and while not as strong as the other members of the team yet, is at least on the high end of the intermediate spectrum. I suspected that he could have evolve into a charizard at any time since most of his species would have attained their final evolutionary form after going through eight months of vigorous training, but Toothless chose to hold back on his evolution. Toothless's respect for me had not diminished after his evolution, but his stubbornness had grown exponentially together with his pride, something that Flannery had warned me about when I first received him. He was adamant on mastering Overheat for reasons unknown, and I secretly felt that it was the true reason why he held back on evolving. From my guess, he probably wanted to prove that he could master Overheat as a charmeleon before evolving into a charizard. I tried to tell him that while it is not impossible for his species to master that move at the charmeleon stage, most of them only managed to do so as a charizard, and that mastering Overheat as a charmeleon would not have any meaning other than a matter of pride. I explained that the main reason why most charmeleons aren't capable of mastering that move is because the organs that allowed them to breathe fire aren't developed enough at the charmeleon stage to generate flames intense enough for an Overheat, and that only a select lucky few are born with that capabilities. This would not be a problem when their species evolve and have fully developed organs to generate these flames as a charizard. In summary, there is no shame in not being able to use Overheat as a charmeleon. Toothless either didn't get the point I'm driving across, or chose to ignore it. I decided to leave it as it is for now, he will understand why I said it was futile trying to master Overheat as a charmeleon in time.

I also treated the three pokemons that were loaned to me as if they were my own, and reminded my team to not treat them as outsiders. Chansey was perfectly fine with interacting with my team, although she didn't bother to build any form of lasting friendship with them. I guessed that it was because she knew that I was only her temporary trainer and thus felt that there was no point in building lasting relationships with my pokemon. Zangoose was constantly wary of everything and everyone. He prefers to be left alone even though he is perfectly fine in following my orders in battle. I would not be surprised if he was another case of abandoned pokemon given how jumpy he is. Eevee was the special case.

Norman had warned me when I received eevee's pokeball that she is "a spunky one with a little attitude problem", if I were to quote him directly. It wasn't hard to see why he described her as such. Eevee had no problems with following my directions in battle and training, and took them very seriously. She has high expectations of herself, and placed the same expectations on other trainers or pokemons that she work with. Outside of battles, eevee can be bossy, which annoys other pokemons that interacted with her. She also hates rowdiness and prefers everything to be done in an orderly manner in a no nonsense fashion. I'm not sure if her no nonsense attitude was because she was influenced by how Norman usually conducts himself, or if she was born with that mindset. Eevee tends to take on the role of the disciplinarian of the team among the three pokemon that I was loaned with. Zangoose just ignored her while chansey just went along with the flow due to her easy-going nature. My pokemon were a little annoyed with her whenever they spend time with the three normal type pokemon. They have no problems with chansey and zangoose, but they disliked how eevee took her disciplinarian role so seriously that she started to try and keep _them_ in line as well, when strictly speaking, eevee isn't part of _our_ team. My pokemon can be a little rowdy due to the way we interacted with each other, but we were not overly so such that we make a nuisance of ourselves. However, to eevee, any form of rowdiness is unacceptable and she expected them to carry themselves in a "proper manner" just as how she carried herself. She will try to remind them to behave themselves by swatting them with her paws or tail which annoyed them to no end.

I was only a gym trainer for two weeks when it got to the point that even Lily, who was usually unaffected by everything that goes on around her, wrapped eevee in her tentacles and hanged her upside down to shut eevee up and bring my team a moment of peace. All these happened when I left them alone just for a short moment to help Norman with some paperwork. I had to interfere and save eevee from Lily when I returned. I wasn't pleased with how eevee and my team behaved around each other, and made them apologise to each other. My team knew that I was angry, so they apologised to both me and eevee. Eevee didn't get the memo, so I decided to punish her.

I rarely punished my pokemon, but my team knew how scary my punishments could be if I got angry with them. Back at Fiery Path, Bigblue and Snap got into a spat shortly after attaining their final evolution, and destroyed a large part of their training area while I was away at another spot training Kel. I hated conflict, especially if it happened among my pokemon. Furthermore, that particular training spot was so suited for our training purposes that it was hard to find it in the first place, let alone finding another one similar to it. It was the first time I got angry at my pokemon, and I took a leaf out of my Dad's book in handling uncooperative pokemon on our farm. I told them that since they have so much energy to spare in fighting each other instead of training, they have the energy to do extra strength and stamina training. As their punishment, I made them push boulders at least thrice their size to and fro the entire length of Fiery Path 10 times. No techniques are allowed when pushing the boulders, only pure strength and stamina. I watched them serve their punishment on Flamel's back while the rest of the team took a break from training, watching Bigblue and Snap pushing boulders. They were so utterly exhausted by the end of the punishment that they just lie on the ground gasping for air.

I did a similar thing for eevee, but instead of strength and stamina training, I changed it to evasion and stamina training. I made eevee run laps non-stop around the greenhouse under zangoose's and chansey's watchful gaze while they tried to snipe her with long-ranged attacks at least 20 feet away. If she managed to run five consecutive laps without getting hit by their attacks, or if I deemed that she ran enough, then eevee would have served her punishment in full. Of course, no pokemon techniques are allowed for eevee, the only thing she was allowed to do was to run and dodge. My team almost laughed at her predicament, but an angry glare from me shut them up immediately. As I expected, eevee didn't managed to complete five consecutive laps without being hit, so I stopped the punishment when I knew that she was nearing her limit. I had made sure to tell zangoose and chansey to tone down their attacks so the worst that eevee had suffered from the attacks were light bruises that will heal in a day or two. I collected eevee from where she collapsed on the ground, and brought her to a corner of the greenhouse and healed her up with potions. I was of the belief that pokemon can be reasoned with if they understand our language, so I proceeded to give her a long one-to-one talk on what was appropriate and inappropriate when interacting with me and my team, or any other pokemon team for the matter, and explained what she did wrong. I complimented her on her professionalism and work ethics, but also bluntly informed her that none of my pokemon, or any pokemon team, will accept her as part of the team if she kept up the bossy attitude. I told her that everyone is bossy to a certain extent, but sometimes we simply have to learn how to tolerate each other, especially when we are working as a team. I may only be her temporary trainer, but she is part of _my_ team now, even if it was for a short period of time, and I don't wish for her to learn about the consequences of her actions the hard way when she got stuck with a permanent trainer later on.

I was afraid that I had went too far in my punishment, and that it would cause eevee to be uncooperative during our battles. To my surprise, eevee's respect and fondness for me actually grew. She took the initiative and apologised to my pokemon, both my own and the other two loaned ones, in my presence the very next morning. She tried to interact more with my pokemons and build some sort of rapport with them, including zangoose and chansey. The sudden change caught everyone off guard, and I've never seen zangoose so wary before while he was under my care. Eevee will also try to stick closer to me and follow me around whenever possible, which I didn't mind, and I tried to make her time with me as enjoyable as possible. I realised she enjoyed the sensation of being groomed after I noticed that she was watching me grooming Kel with longing eyes, so I offered to help groom her fur as well. After several grooming sessions, Kel and eevee became friends with each other and often walked around together in their own free time. Eevee also showed more enthusiasm in her training with me and my pokemons, whereas her training with me prior to her punishment was more of obligation rather than desire. Her change in behaviour was obvious enough to be immediately noticed by Norman and the other gym trainers when we battled together. Eevee actually placed absolute trust in me when facing challengers, which is something rarely seen among loaned pokemons used by gym trainers. They had cornered and asked me ( _even Norman himself_ ) about how I managed to curb eevee's "little attitude problem". To this date, I still don't know how my actions managed to gain eevee's immense respect for me, so I told them the story in full.

There were suddenly many more wary stares at me from the pokemons in the greenhouse after that, especially those belonging to the gym trainers. I tried very hard to pretend that it wasn't because they had heard many untrue variations of the story of how I had punished eevee from their respective trainers.

The one thing I learnt from the stares was that gossips, even among pokemons, can be very scary.

Eevee's bad habits still popped up every now and then, but it is a lot more tolerable and she quickly rectified them whenever she noticed that she had gotten into her "bossy mode" again. My team welcomed the change and I was glad to see the group finally acting as a team once again, even if the three normal type pokemons were only supposed to be temporary members of our team.

Time passed. Norman had managed to find more gym trainers so that we have enough manpower to rotate our duties. There wasn't a need anymore for all the gym trainers to come to work every working day. We have a duty roster pasted at the gym's pantry, and I found out that most of us only need to work three or four days a week, excluding the gym trainers that worked full-time. I still go to the gym everyday to see if I could help out or to simply train at the greenhouse, since I have nothing better to do at home. Things went on in this manner until there was another major change in my life during my third month as a gym trainer. The gym had closed for an hour for tea break and I was lounging about in a room with the rest of the gym trainers on duty. Most of our bigger pokemons are outside at the greenhouse since they could not fit through the door, and the room wasn't very spacious to begin with. Kel rested and laid by my feet while eevee curled up on my lap while I groomed her. The gym trainers were discussing about what they wanted to do for their career after their participation in the upcoming Ever Grande Conference as the application date for it starts at the beginning of July, which is only about a month away. Norman was reading the newspaper, giving his opinion every now and then and I listened quietly as I groomed eevee.

Halfway into their conversation, eevee suddenly began to glow brightly, and immediately drew the attention of everyone in the room. I watched as she evolved from her position on my lap. Her body grew longer and more stream-lined, her tail growing to almost the same length of her body as the ends of her tail split into two. She grew tufts of fur that lengthened out from her cheek areas. Her ears stretched and became a little larger and her legs became longer and slimmer. When the light died down, an espeon clumsily stood up from my lap and jumped down onto the floor below, fumbling for a moment to adjust to her new body before turning around to look at me in the eyes.

Eevee had evolved into an espeon.

The gym trainers were shocked into silence, and we all turned towards Norman, who also looked a little stunned at eevee's unexpected evolution. It is common for loaned pokemons to evolve while under the care of gym trainers, but the chance for eevee to evolve at Petalburg as a loaned pokemon were almost non-existent as the conditions for her to evolve are too specific for it to happen at Petalburg gym. She either need evolutionary stones, or the Moss Rock or Ice Rock, or to be absolutely happy with her handler to allow her to evolve. No one will be exposing her to evolutionary stones or special evolutionary rocks, and her status as a loaned pokemon meant that she would not have time to bond with any of her temporary trainers as she was passed frequently from one gym trainer to another. There was another consequence of her evolution. Unlike other pokemons, eevee doesn't retain her normal typing after its evolution in the eight different evolutionary forms that she could evolve into, so she can no longer be used in battle against intermediate trainers at Petalburg. Furthermore, her evolution had meant that she had surpassed the intermediate level and had progressed to at least an advanced level in terms of strength. The fact that she chose to evolve into an espeon meant that she is also now unwilling to leave me, as it required her to have unwavering trust and affection in me to trigger her evolution. Espeons are known to be extremely loyal to the trainer that helped triggered their evolution when they are still an eevee, and hence espeon is no longer suited to be a pokemon on loan to be passed to another trainer after I quit as a gym trainer, for the sake of espeon's mental health.

Norman sighed as he put down the newspaper he was reading and beckoned me to follow me to his office, telling me to bring espeon with me. I picked espeon up from the ground and hugged her close to my chest, still a little bewildered, as Kel followed me and looked at us in amusement. I sat down on a chair in his office as Norman made a call to someone, who I presumed was an official in the Hoenn League. Five minutes later, he took out a few sheets of paper and told me to fill in the forms for a request to transfer the ownership of espeon, telling me that the Hoenn League had approved to give espeon to me, and all I need to do is to fill in these forms for an official transfer.

I named espeon Rena with no other reason because it just felt like the right name for her. She liked the name. My team was a little shocked as well when I told them that Rena is now an official member of our team. Chansey and zangoose simply congratulated her, if I read their grunts correctly. I cannot tell if they are feeling happy or sad at her departure from the gym.

Rena had major problems trying to control her newfound psychic powers after her evolution, and it caused things to float randomly around her at random times whenever she cannot rein in her powers. Jody, who is a fellow gym trainer and an Elite trainer, helped me in teaching Rena on how to control her psychic powers together with her grumpig. The most shocking ability that Rena now possessed is the ability to talk to me telepathically, and that she can peer into people's mind and memories with her psychic powers.

Naturally, she found out the biggest secret that I had kept to myself when she was experimenting with her psychic powers. She found out that I am now living my second life.

Rena's voice is like those of a teenage woman, and it felt silky and smooth. She told me that my secret is safe with her and she will not tell a single soul about it, even to my other pokemon. Despite having my secret found out, I felt a little relieved that I do not need to bear this secret alone. Rena isn't too concerned on how many lives I had lived before, or how my previous world was like, as long as I remained as her trainer. The ability to talk telepathically is common among fully evolved psychic pokemon, although the only humans that they converse with is usually their own trainers, something that I had learnt from Jody. Rena didn't delve deeper into my memories, saying that the act of invading into the memories of others is rude if done without permission, and educated me that psychic pokemons view these actions as breaking a sacred law of their own. She only found out about my secret by accident when trying to establish a more stable telepathic link with me. Hence, I do not need to be afraid of having my memories forcefully read by other psychic pokemons unless they were commanded to do so by their trainers. This also explained why Holly, my mum's gardevoir, still does not know about my secret despite living under the same roof with her for 11 years.

I continued being a gym trainer and trained together with my team. I spent the weekdays at the gym battling challengers as my pokemon trained on their own in the greenhouse. I would spend the weekends training together with my team on the farm, inventing combos with them while honing their existing moves. Each of them had learnt a wide range of moves and maneuvers from Norman's pokemon, and had taken specific roles on my team. Flamel is the fastest pokemon on the team, and takes on the role of being the lead pokemon that I usually use against unknown trainers. Bigblue is a tank. On top of being able to create shields out of rock, he is capable of taking large amount of damage while dealing even more damage against his foes, and is extremely hard to take down. Dolly is my best saboteur, and possessed the largest amount of moves among the members of my team, with Lily as a close second. Dolly soaked up new moves like a sponge, mastering them in a short amount of time before moving on to learning the next move from Norman's pokemon or from any other pokemon she meets at the greenhouse. She is now a walking encyclopedia of pokemon moves. Dolly excelled at foiling the plans of her opponents and taking down troublesome foes through indirect means, and had ensured our team's victory against difficult opponents when we fought advanced trainers we found outside the gym in our free time. Snap is our powerhouse with the largest amount of raw power, and the only one that we rely on for aerial battles, a position that Toothless will soon be joining when he evolves into a charizard. Kel's role on our team is also similar to Dolly that she can sabotage her opponents, but due to her dislike of conflicts, her way of doing it is by playing defensively while forcing the opposing trainer to switch out their pokemon. Kel's fight is also usually more dirty and underhanded, and she will bring victory for our team through any means as long as it is within the rules of an official battle. Toothless is still the weakest on the team in terms of power, but he will grow to be our powerhouse in time. He had mastered all of his dragon type advanced egg moves, and is brutal when it comes to battle. Toothless is also a battle junkie, constantly seeking out challenging fights. Lily is our best defensive battler now that she evolved into a cradily. Her access to more advanced rock type techniques after her evolution allowed her to shape the battlefield to her liking, and she excels at crowd control. She does not have the best physical defense, but her best defense comes in the form of the abundance of recovery moves that she can use to heal up the damage she receives. Lily became even harder to take down after Bigblue taught her how to use rock type techniques to shield herself, and they are an awesome combo in double battles. Rena is also capable of being my lead pokemon alongside Flamel, although she is a bit of a glass cannon. Rena can dish out devastating attacks, but is unable to sustain heavy damage to herself in battle. Hence, she relied a lot on her speed and psychic powers to make sure she remain safe in battles. I also taught her how to use Protect effectively, although it is not her preferred move for defense.

During my time at Petalburg, Vance also came back home a few times for a short stay in between the breaks he was allowed to enjoy after completing his missions. I will usually drag him along to help me train my pokemon during his stay, and he was helpful in teaching my pokemon the rarer and advanced moves that would be hard to master otherwise. His salamence had taught Snap and Toothless a wide range of dragon type moves, and gave me and Vance the biggest scare of our lives when it decided to teach Snap Draco Meteor on its own volition. Draco Meteor is one of the most destructive moves in existence, and a well-trained dragon is capable of wiping out a small town with it. Dad wasn't happy that the two dragons nearly obliterated a portion of the farm, and we had to drag our dragons to a remote corner of Petalburg when practicing Draco Meteor to ensure that they would not accidentally destroy anything. Macky and Dolly became prank buddies and pulled harmless pranks on the pokemon on the farm whenever they have the free time. We simply let them be since the pranks were harmless. Macky had also helped Dolly master the more advanced ghost type techniques, especially Destiny Bond, and taught her other exotic moves to add to her arsenal. Vance's weavile had helped Kel in her dark type techniques while his gallade and metagross helped Rena in harnessing her psychic powers. Toothless and Flamel learned under Vance's magmortar, who had evolved after I gave it to him as a magmar. Toothless and magmortar had hit it off immediately after meeting each other since they shared a love for challenging battles. Vance's sceptile helped Lily master her grass type moves.

Life in Petalburg continued as it is, and the doctors lifted my six month travel ban after seeing how my health had improved for the better during my rest that lasted half a year. I decided to stay for a little longer in Petalburg since I only have three gym challenges left, and I have a full year to attempt the challenges since I will be missing out on the upcoming Ever Grande Conference. Norman have to search for gym trainers again, since the bulk of them had left to compete in the Ever Grande Conference, and I have to work for the full five days per week until the new batch of gym trainers joined us. My twelfth birthday arrived, and my parents gave me a pachirisu that they found in Slateport during their business trip there to purchase supplies for the farm. The pachirisu had hidden itself among the crates on a ship that sailed to Hoenn from Sinnoh, and were found by my parents when they were checking the crates.

My parents knew that I have a soft spot for anything cute, and so they decided to capture this pachirisu and gave it to me as a birthday present. I named him Fuzzy due to how soft his fur is and his tendency to release sparks of electricity whenever he gets excited. Fuzzy hates to battle, although he sometimes join us in training for fun. The only thing he did in training other than trying to increase his electricity output is to participate in agility exercises, and he actually managed to complete five laps around the greenhouse without getting hit by zangoose's and chansey's attacks, much to Rena's surprise. Fuzzy is extremely hard to pin down once he gets into it. I am fine with Fuzzy not participating in battles, I have enough pokemons on my team that can hold themselves in battle and aid me in completing the gym circuit. His species is also not one that is built for combat, and are more often seen in pokemon contests or kept by civilians who needed a pokemon companion in their lives.

 _'You are daydreaming again, Mistress.'_

A telepathic message from Rena brought me out of my reverie, and I looked downwards from Flamel's back as I saw her looking at me. She had taken to address me as ' _Mistress_ ' ever since she managed to establish a stable telepathic link with me. I told her that I preferred if she just called me by my given name, but she was insistent on giving me the proper respect as I am her trainer. I would be continuing my journey tomorrow, and I had just resigned my position as a gym trainer. My resignation will not cause any manpower deficiency issues now that Norman had found enough competent trainers to fill in the ranks. I felt a little sad when I said my farewells to chansey and zangoose. I'm not sure if I will see them again, and they were a little unwilling to see me go as well. I focused on the thoughts that I wanted to send to Rena, and send it back to Rena through our telepathic link.

 _'Just thinking of the time we spent together. We will be continuing our journey tomorrow. It has been a long eight months.'_

 _'None of us pokemon really keep track of short periods of time unlike you humans. I still don't get why humans need...what do you call that? A calendar? Can't they just keep track of time by counting the number of moon cycles?'_

 _'It's easier for us that way, Rena. And eight months is not exactly a short period of time.'_

 _'You humans just have short lifespans, Mistress. Eight complete moon cycles is hardly a significant amount of time.'_

A sudden yelp from Toothless made me turn my attention to him, and I saw that he had accidentally roasted his marshmallows into a blackened mess. Good, he does not need more sugar in his diet, he has been eating too many of those.

 _'Serves the lizard right. He has been annoying me with his preaching on how good and tasty those thing are.'_

Toothless's predicament earned a round of laughter from the team, and I saw my house in sight at the end of the path that we were walking on.

"Come on guys, dinner's waiting for us."

My team chorused an agreement, and we hastened our pace back home.

* * *

I stared at the pokeball Vance had dumped on me just right before he left after dinner. We had only just finished washing the dishes when he pulled me aside, and started to tell about how cool Mt Silver is when he went there for a joint mission with STAR, the Indigo League's version of Hoenn's ACE. He talked about how smooth it is to sail on the back of a lapras, and how strong the ursarings there are, and a bunch of other details and stories which I simply tuned out and pretended to listen. I got a little suspicious when he purposely went into detail of how cool the wild pokemons in Mt Silver are, before he suddenly threw a pokeball at me which I caught on reflex, told me that ' _This little guy is your belated birthday present. Buh-bye!_ ', before cheerily teleporting away with his gallade to who-knows-where.

What. The. Hell?

I sat down on the sofa of our living room, dumbfounded. Rena, Dolly, and Kel crowd around me and looked at me and the pokeball, unsure of what to make of this situation.

"Come on Vel, I don't think it's anything bad."

"This came from Vance, Mum, his definition of a suitable birthday present is debatable. Remember the time when he thought that giving me an illegally customised pair of Running Shoes that can run up to 80km per hour was a good idea? Luckily we checked the shoes before I used it."

"Point taken."

For the sake of my safety and sanity, I pulled my Pokedex out of pocket and scanned the pokeball, which suddenly felt like a ticking time bomb. Just what did he gave me?

The screen of the Pokedex lighted up, and revealed the identity of the mystery pokemon.

"That's...I'm not sure if Vance's idea is a brilliant one, or an absurdly stupid one." Dad spoke, after seeing the identity of the mystery pokemon, now identified as a larvitar.

"Isn't larvitar... I don't know... absolutely difficult to handle? They evolve into a tyranitar at the end, right? Those are classified as pseudo-legendaries! How am I supposed to handle this guy! This is an absolutely bad idea!"

"Not really, if you can actually manage to get this guy -lavitar's a he right?- to respect you, you would have another amazing powerhouse on your team for the next Ever Grande Conference. This guy won't lose to even a dragon when trained properly, and your Mum and I can sleep better at night knowing there's a tyranitar there to protect you when you are on your journey."

" _IF_ I can get this guy to respect me."

" _WHEN_ you get larvitar to respect you, Velda. You are a better trainer than I ever was. Don't doubt yourself."

"I can go and see if there are any notes in our family's library on how to handle his species." Mum supplied helpfully.

"One thing's for sure." Dad interjected. "You cannot train and treat him as how you normally do so for the rest of your team, at least not in the beginning when he has no respect for you. Train him like how you would train an unruly soldier. His species only respect power, show him how strong you really are. Knock him down into the ground if you have to, as many times as you need. Show him that only you can bring out his full potential. His species is notoriously stubborn and vicious, so it probably will take a lot of time to finally get him to listen to you. Even among gym leaders and Elite Four members, not many will want to raise larvitars into tyranitars due to the amount of time and effort needed for the entire duration, which is a long time, so don't get disheartened if you don't see visible results in the short term."

"Vance probably just wanted to get back at me for giving him a magmar for his last birthday, I knew it." I groaned and threw my head back into the headrest of the sofa. Raising a stubborn and vicious pokemon is not on my to-do list for my journey, no matter how strong it may be in the future. I don't even know if I can handle it properly.

"If things really get out of hand, just send larvitar back to the farm. Your Mum and I can handle it."

"That's right, Vel." My Mum said, sitting down beside me and pulling me into a hug. "Remember to take care of yourself on your journey, ok? If your body starts to give you anymore problems..."

"I will inform both you and Dad before coming back home ASAP. I got it, Mum. I won't be as reckless again. I promise."

"Thank you, Vel. That's all we need from you."

* * *

 **AN: I don't think a time-skip is what you guys are expecting, but I have always planned for a time-skip to happen at Petalburg, it was necessary. Velda may be a skilled trainer, but she needs time to grow and be truly strong. If you noticed, I also skip out on writing the details of the training, as these are boring, in my opinion. That's why you haven't see me writing the details on how Velda trained her team so far. I'm still thinking if the next chapter I'm going to write will be a training arc for larvitar, there's no purpose in it other than to see how well I can write one, but that's probably the only training arc you will see from me.**

 **I'm not sure on how pokemon trainers will punish misbehaving pokemon, so I took some inspirations from stories on how officers in the army will punish misbehaving soldiers. I'm not sure how true these stories are, but at least I have something to base the punishments on.**

 **The OP pokemon that I said that I will give Velda in the AN of one of the earlier chapters was larvitar. Many of the pokemon fanfics that I read tend to give their mc dragon pseudo-legendaries when OP pokemon is concerned, and I felt that the idea was over-used. I don't think I have seen a mc use a tyranitar before, so I wanted to give Velda one.**

 **You guys have expressed your worries for me as I try to publish chapters daily, telling me to take care of my health. I thank you for your concerns, and it warmed my heart that I have such caring readers. The reason why I try to publish chapters daily is because I am currently on my winter break from school, and after the end of my winter break, I will not be writing anything until the start of my summer break, which starts around May. When I mean stop writing, I literally mean that I would not write anything whether I finished IJWTTTW or not when my new school term starts next year. That means that if I do not finish this story, IJWTTTW will be on a 4 to 5 month hiatus. I disliked it when stories go on long hiatus, especially the good ones, and I hate to do so to my readers who truly enjoyed this story, even if it is not a popular one. To me, if even one reader expressed that he or she really enjoy reading my story, then I have an obligation to at least try to finish the story. That's my work ethic, and it is what I will try to promise you. No matter how slow the updates for IJWTTTW will be in the future, so long as you guys are willing to continue reading it, I will finish the story one way or another.**

 **When I planned to write IJWTTTW, I had planned for it to be a short story and to complete it before the month. Apparently, this is not possible given the progress of this story. I had miscalculated on the number of details I have to write to make this story as realistic as possible. So I decided to at least try to finish the chapters on the gym circuits before going on hiatus.**

 **I strongly feel that I can finish this story by the end of my summer break next year, and then I will attempt to write another fanfic. I was deciding between another pokemon fanfic, fairy tail, or naruto, as I really enjoyed them. I think I will put naruto last, the story of naruto is actually really deep when you take the time to analyse it. It will not be easy to write a fanfic of it. I have always been very interested in reincarnation stories, and this will probably be the direction on how my future stories will go. I am currently more inclined to write a fairy tail fanfic after IJWTTTW, and this time I want to try to write a SI fic of a canon character instead of an oc, just to try something different. I already have a rough plan for the fanfic, but I won't be writing it anytime soon.**

 **Anyway, I hoped that you guys won't be too disappointed in me for going on a 5 month hiatus when my school term starts next year. That's the main thing I wanted to inform you guys seeing as there is only about a week until 2018 is over.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmeleon (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Larvitar, male**


	12. Chapter 12- I AM FUZZY! AND HE IS ROCKY!

Larvitar had no idea how his life turned out to be like... _this_.

He used to live a dangerous life on a mountain, with dangers lurking around every corner. He had never met his parents, they left him the moment he hatched from his egg and instinctively dug his way into the world from the deep underground where his parents left him. He was left to fend for himself in the unforgiving world. He witnessed how scarily strong the residents of the mountain were, no matter how stupid they looked. He also saw how the evolved members of his species fought them off, and saw how strong they were, even against the monsters living in the mountain. His evolved species were the apex predator of the mountain. Seeing that, he made up his mind.

He will attain the form of his final evolution, and then be the king of the mountain.

It is the only possible way for him to survive on the mountain. If he is the strongest on the mountain, no one can harm him, no one will dare to approach him. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. If he wanted to destroy the monsters living in his territory, he will do it. If he demanded food from them as tribute, they have to fork the food out whether they like it or not. Life on the mountain will not be dangerous anymore, not to him. That line of reasoning strengthened his initial beliefs, and he made a silent vow to himself, with the moon as his witness.

He _will_ be the king of the mountain.

Despite the numerous fantasies he had about becoming king, larvitar isn't stupid. The road to kingship is long and arduous, and there is no way he can even attain his final form if he isn't prepared to put his life on the line. And so, he fought.

He trained and pushed himself, trying to master advanced techniques he saw members of his kind pulled off. He tried to mimic and internalise the moves the monsters of the mountain had used when he spied on them discreetly. He fought, and he lost count on how many times he nearly lost his life in his quest to become king. But he won. He won each and every battle he threw himself into, and he felt himself growing stronger.

It's not enough.

No matter what he did, no matter how many battles he had been through, it seems like it would never be enough for him to even feel like he can evolve. _Why?_ What did he do wrong? All he wanted was a chance to be the king of the mountain, was it so difficult a wish to be granted to him?

Larvitar never stopped training himself even when doubts started to fester in his heart. He cannot stop now, unless he wishes to die in the mountain, eaten by monsters. He have to keep going, or he will die trying.

One day, he turned around a corner, and stopped and stared at that lone human that was sitting on his favourite boulder, eating a berry without a care in the world. The human didn't stop munching on his berry even as he stared at him like some interesting specimen. The defenseless human didn't even looked worried even when larvitar knew just how frail humans are. It was when larvitar looked at the human in the eye that he realised in anger why the human looked so unconcerned.

The human did not think that larvitar is a threat to him.

That realisation made larvitar's blood boil in rage. _HOW DARE HE?!_ He is the future king of the mountain! He trained endlessly day and night for his dream! How dare this puny human belittle him!

He will make the human pay for his insolence.

Larvitar charged, with the horn at his head pointing at the human, intending to skewer him alive.

The human's shadow suddenly moved, and a purplish paw batted him away from the human, sending him crashing through the rocks of the mountain, laying in a messy heap gasping for air.

What in Arceus's name just happened?

He watched in horror as a new monster made its presence known. A ghost, one that he had never seen before, emerged from the human's shadow. Even from where he lay, larvitar could feel the strength the ghost is emitting. It is way stronger than any of the monsters on this mountain. If the ghost were to live on this mountain, it can easily be king.

The ghost cackled loudly, opening his gaping maws intending to eat him alive.

"Leave it, Macky."

The human spoke, and those three words were what saved larvitar's life. This human, larvitar realised, had to be a trainer. He had heard of humans like the one standing in front of him taming monsters to fight for their cause. They helped his kind grow stronger, and in return, they will use their strength to aid the humans. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Most of their kind will return to their homelands once their trainer passed on. Humans have short lifespans compared to their species. He only have to serve the human a short while, attain his final form, and return to the mountain to continue on his quest to be king.

He can be the king of the mountain. The dream suddenly don't seem so faraway now.

The human trainer suddenly tossed a ball at him, and larvitar thought it was some sort of attack. The ghost just smacked him into the direction of the ball while larvitar closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable doom.

It turned out to be a contraption to contain him and register him as the human's companion. This strong human had acknowledged his strength and accepted him!

When he was next released into the world, he had left the rocks of his mountain. The human sat a short distance away from him, as if contemplating something.

"Hmm...Yea, this guy will do."

What does the human mean?

The human released more monsters around him from more of those contraptions, which he now knew is called a pokeball, and the suffocating presence of the monsters that followed the human nearly made larvitar fall onto his knees.

 _Strong_. So _strong._

Will he be like them in the future? Is there a chance?

He ate some sort of weird mix which the ghost told him is called "pokemon food", designed to feed creatures like them, which the humans called pokemon. It tasted a lot better than the mountain soil and occasional berries on the mountain, so he devoured it all.

He wanted to start training straight away, and expressed his desire to the human.

The human merely raised an eyebrow. "You are not ready yet. I am not going to be the one to train you."

 _What?!_

"I am going to give you away to my little sister. If being strong is what you want, she can give you that. She isn't as strong as me now, but I believe she can be in the future if she so wished it. She just needs the determination to do so."

Larvitar shook with rage. This is the second time the human had dismissed him so casually. What is he to him? Some sort of toy? To be given away at his pleasure? He was so looking forward to train under this human and _THIS is how the human treat HIM_?! Give him away to the _SECOND BEST_?!

Larvitar seethed, and attacked the human once more.

The dragon standing beside the human gave a mighty swipe of his tail, and sent larvitar flying into the air. A black weasel pokemon leaped into the air and drop-kicked him like a stray pebble into the ground. A fire breathing duck pokemon blasted him with scorching flames while a walrus pokemon slapped him into the mud beneath him.

"Enough."

With that, those monsters slowly backed off, still wary of larvitar.

"Attack me one more time, and I will cut you up alive. Sceptile's blades are sharp enough to do so." On cue, the forest lizard gave a lazy swing of the blade attached to its skinny arms, and the boulder beside him, that was at least two times its size, split into two and fell onto the ground in pieces.

Larvitar is way out of his league, and he knew it.

"I told you. If you want to be strong, my sister can help you. You just need to work with her. You want to be a tyranitar, am I right? Then heed my advice and follow her teachings. It won't take long for you to be a tyranitar if you do so."

Tauros crap. Larvitar knew one when he hears one. No matter what the human says, there is no way his sister is better than him. The human said so himself.

That incident ended just like that without anymore fanfare. The human only let him out when it was time to eat or to let him stretch his legs after remaining in the pokeball for long periods of time. Larvitar grew dejected. What went wrong? Why won't the human see that having him on his team is a worthwhile investment for the both of them?

Larvitar don't know what he was expecting, but he did not expect that he will meet the human's little sister so soon.

She is small, that's all larvitar can say when he first met her. He had seen other humans while he was with the human that had shattered his worldview. This female human is small, very unassuming, very normal.

She doesn't look strong. In fact, she is weak. She cannot walk for half a day without feeling winded.

Larvitar felt very pissed.

After his new trainer introduced herself to him, which he didn't bother to listen and reply, they set off on their journey to Arceus-knows-where. He definitely is too far away from his mountain, nothing here is familiar to him. The other pokemons tried to talk to him, but he ignored them. None of them exudes the same power as the monsters that belonged to the human that initially captured him, they are beneath his notice. Larvitar just walked with the group, there was nothing better to do.

They soon arrived at a clearing where they had a quick meal. The trainer announced that they will be starting training, which got larvitar's brief attention.

Nah, he will skip it. What can this midget do to him anyway? Talk him to death? Can she even do it without needing to catch her breath?

He walked off on his own to the side of the clearing where he intend to do his own training. He was about to summon rocks when he felt a tentacle wrapped around him and forcefully pulled him away from where he was. He was hung upside down and saw the trainer looking at him in amusement.

He is not an object to be gawked at.

Larvitar attempted to throw rocks at his trainer, only for the tentacle to shift and slammed him violently onto the ground.

"We tried to be nice to you, you know? But if you want to do things the hard way, fine. Bigblue, Snap, and Rena can tell you about their horror stories on how I treated them when they misbehaved. They will be more than happy to reenact what they experienced on you. This is your first day here, so I will be understanding and forgive you for your attempted murder on me. Toothless, you will help to conduct his training for now. Remember what I told you earlier, start with the basics first. Don't want the new guy to die on his first day with us, eh?"

A round of laughter rose around larvitar, and he growled in anger.

"Stop that threatening act. It stopped being funny a while ago. You are weaker than a wurmple. Anyone on my team can easily beat you and bury you six feet under the ground, care to try?"

Larvitar roared, and attempted to impale her with his horn. HOW DARE SHE!

The tentacle wrapped around him tightened its hold on him, and larvitar turned back to see a rock-plant thing leering at him with those yellow eyes.

"Hmm... guess you are not convinced, huh? Well, how about you pick any member on my team here and try to beat them mano a mano? I like to see you try. Maybe you can show us something exciting?"

The tentacle around him loosened, and larvitar quickly stood up. He took a good look around, sizing up his opponents. She wanted something exciting? He will destroy every pokemon here before killing her. _That_ will be exciting.

He pointed to a rodent perched on the trainer's shoulder.

"Picking the seemingly weakest one, I see. Oh well, it's your doom. Have fun, Fuzzy. Don't knock him silly."

The rodent jumped down and slowly sauntered in from of larvitar, and had the audacity to _wave_ a hello at him with his tiny paw.

 _'Hi there! Name's Fuzzy, Vel over there gave me my name. Don't worry, you will only be getting a little beat up, I think.'_

 _'Shut up, rodent. I will eat your innards when I'm done with you.'_

 _'Rude.'_

With their pre-battle banter done, they got into their battle stance.

Larvitar gave a roar as he charged, trying to impale the rodent or bite him.

The rodent simply side-stepped and tripped him with his tiny feet.

Larvitar got back up as he stared at the rodent in shock, what just happened?

 _'Are you even trying? I am the weakest here. I don't even battle for my trainer, although I do take part in some of her training sessions.'_

Larvitar didn't bother to reply, and this time, he summoned rocks above the rodent and tried to bury him alive.

 _'Not impressive, Bigblue and Lily are a lot more better than you when it comes to rocks. You are a hundred years too early to try and kill me with that. Even they can't touch me with their rocks unless I want them to.'_

The rodent simply stood there as the rocks came tumbling down on him, and the rocks kicked up a large cloud of dust when the rocks landed. Hah, so much for the big talk.

He felt a light tap on his shoulder as he brushed it off, can't he take a moment to savour his victory?

 _'Hey, what'cha looking at? Something nice around there?'_

Larvitar spun around in shock as he quickly back-pedaled away from the voice, and saw the cocky rodent _waving_ at him once more.

How had he got to his back unnoticed? Wasn't he over at the rocks just a moment ago?

 _'How?'_

 _'How what? You have to be more specific than that, bad-boy wannabe.'_

 _'How did you avoid my attacks.'_

 _'Oh. That? I just left an after-image, that's all. Have you heard of Double Team?'_

The rodent suddenly split into two copies, before multiplying himself across the area, and soon he saw at least a hundred copies of the rodent around the area. They are everywhere, on the ground, in the trees, waving at him _again_. It is a frightening sight.

 _'Don't look so shocked. I'm not even a master of this move, only learnt it a week ago for the fun of it. Kel and Rena are masters in it. KEL! RENA! Care for a demonstration?'_

 _'I'm not going to lower myself to the standards of this brute. I don't even know why Mistress brought him with us. Ask Kel.'_

The white void feline rolled her eyes as she stood up from her spot, and larvitar watched in amazement as the void feline multiplied until there was a _sea_ of them, and she even multiplied beyond the horizons of what he could see.

 _'Happy now?'_

The copies vanished, and the void feline remained standing as if she had never moved from her spot before.

 _'Tch, all you could do is to pull of parlor tricks. You can't even fight me in a contest of strength.'_ Larvitar taunted. While what the rodent just showed is an amazing display of skill, none of it had any strength.

 _'Seriously, that's what got you all riled up? Strength is not just about crushing the most number of rocks with a single move. But oh well, why not? HEY GUYS! HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO THRASH HIM?'_

This stupid rodent. Larvitar will bury him alive the next time. That's a promise.

 _'Cook him alive, I want him medium-rare. That's what Vel told me when she taught me how to cook marshmallows. Same logic should apply to that guy.'_

 _'You know I can't do that, my sparks have no effect on him, he's part ground, next.'_

 _'I don't know, bury him alive? I've always enjoyed a sand bath back at the desert.'_

 _'I don't have the claws for it, anything else that I can POSSIBLY do?'_

 _'Wrap him up.'_

 _'I don't have tentacles like you, Lily.'_

 _'You have a long tail.'_

 _'Don't want to dirty it. Do you know HOW LONG I took to groom it? Pass.'_

 _'We can make a castle of rocks around him, trap him in there.'_

 _'I said what I can POSSIBLY do, Bigblue.'_

 _'Eh, just rip the ground up from under, Dolly knows what I'm talking about. It's possible to do it with huge sparks.'_

 _'Now THAT's a good idea. Anything else?'_

 _'Oooh, I know! I know! Kick him around like a ball! Vel introduced us to volleyball recently! Remember!'_

 _'It's weird trying to play by myself, Dolly, Vel did say I have to face him alone. And isn't kicking the ball around soccer?'_

 _'I can help you keep count!'_

 _'I will try. Anything else.'_

 _'Can we please just get on with it?'_

 _'I agree.'_

 _'I still think cooking him alive is possible. Vel did say rock types aren't immune to heat. Maybe you can heat the ground around him with sparks and barbecue him? I want my marshmallows. Vel just banned me from eating them. He looked so tasty too.'_

 _'He IS part of our team now, Toothless.'_

 _'Vel haven't give him a name yet, Flamel. Technically, he doesn't count. Not until he stops that attitude of his. Rena and I probably have the worst personalities on the team and even we can't stand him. He doesn't deserve Vel.'_

 _'Fire-brain's right, this brute doesn't deserve Mistress. Just get on with it, Fuzzy. Mistress is looking bored.'_

 _'Okie-dokie. GOOD AFTERNOON LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE MOST AWESOMEST DUEL OF THE CENTURY! ON THE CHALLENGER'S SIDE WE HAVE ROCKY-'_

 _'Just. Get. On. With. It. Fuzzy. Before I slice you into two.'_

 _'Geez, no need to kill the mood, I rarely have the chance to toy with wurmples like him, you know?'_

 _'You will have the chance if you train more seriously and actually take part in battles.'_

 _'You know I don't like them.'_

 _'Same for me, but I still battle for Vel if she needs me. You are lucky that Vel doesn't care if you battle or not. Not all trainers are like her.'_

 _'I know. Alright, let's get on with it.'_

Larvitar seethed in rage as the conversation between these pokemons took place as if he wasn't there. He never felt so humiliated before in his entire life.

 _'Hey rocky. You can have the first move, or the second move, or the third move, or...'_

Larvitar couldn't take it any longer, he charged and sent a blast of rocks at the Giratina-damned rodent.

The rodent did not multiply this time, he simply weaved, jumped, climbed and waltzed around his barrage of rocks looking totally relaxed. All of it is done through pure speed.

 _'I haven't finished my sentence, you know, that was rude. Tsktsk.'_

Larvitar charged in with a Bite, attempting to crush the annoying rodent with its jaws.

 _'Whoa, have you smelt your own breath? What did you eat? Tauros dung?'_

 _'Shut UP and fight back! You rodent!'_

 _'Suuurrreeee.'_

The rodent suddenly increased his speed, and approached larvitar in a blur of movement. His tail glowed a metallic sheen and he smacked larvitar painfully into the air.

'ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! C'MON DOLLY COUNT FOR ME! YOU SUGGESTED THIS!'

'FIVE! SIX! SEVEN!...'

The ghost began cackling and counted the number of times larvitar was smacked helplessly into the air by the rodent's tail, some of the other pokemons even joined in.

 _'NINETEEN! TWEN- Awww Fuzzy you missed! You almost hit twenty too.'_

 _'Sorry Dolly, tail's getting a little sore right there.'_

Larvitar gritted his teeth as he shakily got back onto his feet. How did this rodent managed to toy with him?

 _'Hey rocky, would appreciate if you could put in a little effort here. It's getting boring trying to put on a show by my lonesome.'_

Larvitar howled and charged again, this time he tried to confuse the rodent by swerving left and right, trying to take him off guard.

 _'What are you doing? Dancing?'_

Larvitar sent his powers through the ground, as a small pebble suddenly shot up from the ground near the rodent's feet and hit the rodent at its side. The rodent tripped from the unexpected move. Larvitar wasted no time in summoning rocks from all angles and sent them flying to the rodent, with the rodent as the epicenter. He watched in satisfaction as he finally buried the cocky rodent in a mountain of rocks. He can't get out of that with an after-image this time. He made sure of it.

 _'Not bad rocky, but not good enough.'_

Larvitar watched in horror as the rodent blasted his rocks away with a powerful burst of electricity. The rodent is now sparking, looking at him mischievously.

 _'Bigblue reminded me, I've always wanted to try building a castle. You can be its first occupant.'_

The rodent sparked even more as he sent waves of electricity down into the ground, and larvitar gaped as the electricity tore the ground from underneath as the rocks and electricity came rolling towards him like a wave, with the rodent riding it. _How did he even ride a wave of rocks?_

 _'SUPER DUPER OMEGA FUZZY WUZZY PUNCH!'_

The stupid rodent jumped off the wave with a burst of speed and punched larvitar in the jaw with its puny paws before leaping away. The wave of rocks came tumbling down on him as he was buried under. Larvitar is too tired to move as he lay beneath the red-hot rocks heated by the sparks. He can't believe it. A brain-damaged rodent actually beat him. HOW? HE WAS THE FUTURE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN DAMN IT! HE TRAINED FOR MANY MOONS! AND HE CAN'T EVEN KICK THE ASS OF A DERANGED RODENT? WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO?!

 _'Did I go overboard? Did he die? Maybe he broke down from depression and his mind got wonkier than a skitty? Maybe my punch left a handsome scar on his face that he is now too busy admiring for him to come out? Or maybe-'_

 _'Shut. Up. Fuzzy.'_

 _'I think that was good, though your castle could look a lot better. Now it just looks like a graveyard.'_

 _'Geez, cut me some slack, Bigblue. Vel told me the only rock technique I can possibly know is Rollout and you know how well that went.'_

 _'True.'_

 _'Did you think you managed to cook him medium-rare? You guys think he taste nice?'_

 _'Is food all you think about, Toothless? Really? I just gave the biggest ass-kicking in my life and all you worry about is your stomach?'_

 _'Hey, no food means no strength, which means no strength to fight. Food is very important, Fuzzy.'_

 _'Damn, your logic sounds wrong, but then again it sounded so right.'_

 _'Of course.'_

 _'Seriously though, what happened to rocky? He's taking a little long even if he is preparing a counter-attack. Don'cha think?'_

Larvitar really wished he could snap the rodent's neck right now, just for a moment of peace and quiet, but he is too tired to even move.

 _'Don't worry, the brute is still alive, I sense him.'_

"Rena, can you give larvitar a hand and lift him out of there? I don't think he is able to move."

 _'Of course, Mistress.'_

Larvitar felt the rocks levitate and moved away from him as a wave of psychic energy brought him closer to the trainer.

"Not sure what you guys are talking about for so long, but Fuzzy seemed so excited so I decided to let him continue. How do you feel? Fuzzy only joined us about a month ago, I believe you pokemons refer to it as a single moon cycle? That's what Rena told me. Fuzzy is not even a battler and he gotten you good. He's not even trying. Are we good enough for you now? Or do you want another go?"

Really? That little rodent only joined a moon cycle ago? No way.

 _'It's true, we have no need to lie to you, brute.'_

 _'Don't read my damn mind.'_

 _'I wasn't. You were broadcasting your thoughts out loud in the open.'_

Larvitar continued to lie down on the ground, lost in thoughts.

 _'Can I...really grow stronger here?'_

Larvitar asked aloud, not really knowing who or where to direct his question to.

 _'Are you dumb or dumb? Have you seen how Fuzzy kicked your ass? I'm the weakest in power here other than Fuzzy, and I don't need my flames to cook you. My claws, fangs and tail can do the job for me. Don't believe me? How about another round, just you and me this time.'_

 _'Stop it fire-brain, your yelling makes my head hurt.'_

 _'Don't stand so close to me then, stuck-up.'_

 _'If,'_ The fire horse that has been mostly silent all this while, took a few steps forward towards larvitar. _'being stronger is all you care about. You can do it here. Vel's dream is to travel the world, and most of us here share the same dream as her. You can have your fair share of fights if you join us, she is more than capable of letting you achieve your full potential, even if Vel herself does not want to be the strongest. We can even give you some of our fights, if fighting is all you live for. None of us here are especially bloodthirsty for battle, other than Toothless and maybe Snap. But we are good at it, that I can assure you. Not many that we had met so far on our journey can wipe the floor with us, and even then they are accomplished trainers and pokemons who had seen battle even before most of us were born.'_

 _'I probably could have evolve into my final form some time ago, to be honest. I just want to perfect a move first before my last evolution. Everyone here had already achieved their final form, and it didn't take us long. Most of us joined Vel about a full earth orbit ago, or less. I myself joined her when I was just a hatchling less than an orbit ago. You might take a bit longer, I know your species, your kind takes a little longer to grow.'_

 _'Can't believe you actually said something intellectual for once, fire-brain. And didn't Vel told you that there was no point in mastering Overheat now? Just evolve first and perfect it later.'_

 _'There's something called a warrior's pride, stuck-up, not that I expect you to understand.'_

 _'Why you-'_

 _'Enough.'_

The big and blue monstrosity lumbered up, cutting off their argument. _'Rena, ask Vel what she wants us to do next.'_

The psychic feline turned to the trainer, who seem to talk to the feline with her eyes, before the trainer spoke up.

"Right now, we break up for training. As discussed, Toothless will take larvitar. Just train him in the basics for now. Teach him how to dodge and defend himself, don't hurt him too badly. Fuzzy's done a wonderful job of that already. The rest of us will go over there-" She pointed to another clearing on her right side. "-and continue what we have been trying to practice before. I'm itching to fight Winona already, I heard Fortree had some really good berries too. We need to get larvitar up in shape for our next gym battle. He wants to fight strong opponents right? He can have a go with a gym leader's pokemon. But he will need to prove himself first. Come on, let's go." The trainer approached larvitar, who tried to back away instinctively in fear. The trainer ignored his actions, and proceeded to spray him with some sort of liquid from a bottle. He watched in amazement as his wounds healed up before his eyes.

"Potions don't heal everything, but it is good enough for your case. Toothless, I'm leaving him to you for now. If he shows good behaviour and improvement in his blocking and dodging skills, you can start him on learning Protect. You guys will rotate and teach him some tricks of your own everyday. Hopefully it's enough to prepare him before we reach Fortree. He will get creamed by the birds there at his current level."

The trainer turned and walked away to the adjacent clearing, the rest of her pokemon trailing after her. He turned to the fire lizard, who looked at him dryly.

 _'Don't think I've officially introduced myself. My name's Toothless, cause I didn't have any teeth yet when I first met Velda. If you laugh at my name even once I will cook you alive, you get what I'm saying?'_

Larvitar could only nod dumbly, he's too tired to even laugh, but the trainer had promised him training, and maybe there are things he could learn from the pokemons here.

 _'Right. I'm not good at rock techniques, so I'm gonna leave the teaching part of that to Bigblue or Lily. Your body may have looked as if it healed, but that's not necessarily true. It takes some time for potions to have some effect, so learning how to block will have to come later unless you want to break your body. So now I'm gonna start on letting you learn how to dodge. See how Fuzzy dodged all your rocks? Nothing impressive like that for now, only he could pull it off like that without much effort and training. He's a natural at it. But dodging is a form of art that is not like the stupid jumps and feints that you did just now. None of us bigger ones are that good at it on the ground, but we are good enough. We excel at blocking instead. Listen carefully, rock-brain. I still don't like you. I am not going to repeat my teachings twice for you, unless you work on your behaviour. Nobody here likes you except for Vel, and we really don't know why she kept you around. She is a good trainer, and an even better friend to us. You dare diss, or Arceus forbid, harm her, in any way, shape, or form. I will roast you. Are we clear?'_

Larvitar can only nod.

 _'Good. Now listen and watch very carefully, this is how you do it...'_

* * *

"Come on, Larlar, you can do it!"

Larvitar gritted his teeth for the umpteenth time as he tried to summon rocks again. His trainer had wanted him to destroy a dummy target with Rock Slide but she just seemed unimpressed by whatever he conjured. Just what does she want? And can she stop trying to come up with stupid names for him? There were Larlar, Vivi, Tartar, Pebbles, Sandy, etc etc. It's not helping him with his focus!

At least now he knew where that annoying rodent get his personality from. Like trainer, like pokemon.

Excluding him, of course. He will _not_ be like that rodent.

He tried to use Rock Slide to demolish his targets again. He was halfway in summoning his rocks when he got interrupted. _Again_.

"Noooo. Not like that. Your rocks lack power. They have no finesse and purpose. You just spam as many rocks as you can and hope it buries your enemies. You need to direct all your rocks purposefully with a target in mind. Tell you what, see that sapling of a tree there? Left side of the rock over there. You try sniping the only red leaf at the top of the tree with only one single rock from here. I don't care how, as long as you do it with rock techniques from where you are standing right now. Then maybe you can understand what I meant by with a target in mind."

Larvitar looked at the tree his trainer pointed. It is at least 50 feet away! How is he going to snipe a leaf of all things from here?!

He turned back to his trainer, who had already moved on to another pokemon on the team. Guess she won't be helping him further on this matter.

Larvitar tried a few more times on trying to hit the red leaf with rocks. He tried summoning them from above, the side, below, from his position but nothing worked. His rocks don't have the reach and power to hit the leaf from where he is.

 _'Need help?'_

Larvitar glanced back and saw Bigblue lumbering up to him from behind, who watched on as larvitar continued to practice.

 _'Oh, the rock sniping practice? Those were fun times.'_

Larvitar grunted. He knew that Bigblue is the resident expert on rock techniques despite not being a rock type, but he don't know how to start asking him without feeling awkward.

 _'You can always ask, you know? All you need to do is to open your mouth. Watch.'_

Bigblue stood beside larvitar, and larvitar watched as Bigblue summoned a rock the size of a pebble that floated in front of his face.

 _'See this?'_

 _'I can tell that it is a pebble, I am not blind.'_

 _'You always see things as how they are on the surface. No wonder Rena doesn't like you. How many times have we told you? Strength is not always about power, even though power is an important component of it. How many leafs did you need to hit?'_

 _'Can't you tell? Are you blind?'_

 _'Humour me.'_

 _'One. The red one.'_

 _'I see. Answer me then, how many rocks do you need to snipe it?'_

 _'As many as I can to take it down, of course.'_

 _'Wrong. It's one, dummy. One rock for one leaf. Why would you need to use so many rocks against a single leaf?'_

 _'No one can guarantee that they can hit the leaf in one shot. Of course I need as many as possible to ensure I take it down.'_

 _'Not wrong, but that's assuming you don't have the accuracy for it. You need to have a purpose and target in mind, you need finesse. Once you achieve that, all you need is a single rock for a single leaf. Sometimes you can even take out more than one leafs using a single rock. See the leaf beside the red one? The one with two holes? Watch how I do it.'_

The pebble floating in front of larvitar shot towards the aforementioned leaf and sniped it down with one clean hit, the tree didn't even shake from the impact.

 _'That's how you achieve accuracy. This is how you achieve power.'_

Another pebble rose from larvitar's feet by Bigblue's powers, and shot towards a clearing of trees with trunks thicker than Bigblue's arms. Larvitar watched with amazement as the pebble shot through the first tree, before continuing its trajectory and went through another tree, the one behind that, and the one behind it, and it kept going until it resulted in a loud crash somewhere far away unseen by the both of them. A flock of taillows squawked angrily as they flew off into the skies, alarmed by the disturbance.

 _'Oops, tried to tone it down, guess it wasn't enough. SORRY TAILLOWS!'_ Bigblue shouted the last part at the taillows who were flying off away from their location, still squawking angrily.

 _'How? I've never seen anything like this before! How do you achieve it?'_

 _'Lily taught you Rock Tomb already, am I right? You know Rock Slide even before joining us. Knowing how to perform these two moves should already provide the basics of what I just did. What I did is what our team call Focus Rock, a combination that anyone here who knows the two moves I mentioned just now is able to do, although it is a specialty of mine and Lily. The others don't really use it. Tell me, how many rocks do you usually use in a Rock Slide?'_

 _'I don't know, I never counted. I only know that there is a lot of them.'_ Larvitar admitted.

 _'And that's your problem, you don't know what you are controlling. Now imagine this, what happens if all the focus, control and power you use in Rock Slide and Rock Tomb is contained in one single pebble? Can you imagine that?'_

Larvitar opened his mouth in shock as he tried to process Bigblue's words. _'Was that what you did just now?'_

 _'Only a very small application of it. Now try what I just did. Remember the feeling when you use both Rock Slide and Rock Tomb. Feel the energy, gather it and compress all the energy into a single pebble, don't let it leak out. Float it right before your eyes first. Try it.'_

Larvitar did as what Bigblue suggested, and very slowly, levitated a single shaky pebble off the ground, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

 _'Good. Now try hitting your target.'_

The pebble shot towards the red leaf. It missed, but it had a far longer reach than any of his prior attempts.

 _'See? That wasn't so hard. I just showed you accuracy and power. You haven't seen control. Vel asked me to hold off on showing you these techniques for now, but I think a little demonstration can help to incentivise you.'_

Larvitar watched as a smooth rectangular platform of rock rose up and lifted Bigblue about a feet off the ground, and Bigblue proceeded to _surf_ on the ground using the rock as a surfboard.

 _'Surprised? This is a way bigger application of Focus Rock. Needs a lot of practice and understanding of both Rock Slide and Rock Tomb. Not the letting the rocks rain on the enemy part, but how to even summon them properly in the first place. You will also need to learn Stone Edge first, but strictly speaking it is not exactly required, it just helps if you happen to know that technique. We can teach you Stone Edge if you want. Surfing on rocks helps me and Lily get around the mobility issue we both have on the ground. Lily loved it. Vel call it Rock Surf.'_

 _'Is that what Fuzzy did when he rode the waves of rocks when we first battled?'_

 _'Oh that? That's not even Focus Rock at all. He just achieved it through sheer nimbleness. No idea how he did it. No one really understood how he managed it either. He's a natural talent at these kind of things, no point in comparing yourself with him, you will just drive yourself crazy. He's a lazy genius when it comes to speed and agility. Continue to snipe, and I can start to slowly teach you how to use Focus Rocks on all kinds of things. I can tell you what to expect next though, after you managed to get one single leaf, what you need to achieve is this.'_

Many small pebbles rose around the both of them, and they shot forward towards the sapling tree that had the red leaf at the top. The pebbles rained on the young tree as its leaves fell.

Only the single red leaf remained on the tree, the rest of the leaves had been shot down by Bigblue.

 _'What.'_

 _'Yeah, I know, what. Try to get the red leaf first, then we can continue to get all the leaves on the other trees later. Then I can teach you how to make your Rock Slides more powerful and your Rock Tomb more compact. Then maybe you can learn how to build a castle made of rocks, it's pretty fun. Then maybe we can start teaching you how to Rock Surf. You will not want to walk on flat ground after that, walking is too ordinary.'_

Bigblue turned away and lumbered off back to his corner. Larvitar watched him go as he called out to Bigblue.

 _'Yea? What do you need?'_

 _'Uh...thanks.'_

 _'No problem. Continue practicing, you have the potential to be stronger than any of us here. I can feel it.'_

* * *

"Just a little more to go, Rockhorn!"

Larvitar's left eye twitched in annoyance as his trainer called him by another stupid name again. He had lost count on how long he had been stuck with her. One moon cycle? Or two? It seemed like a long time, but yet so short.

He put those thoughts away as he continued to drag the gigantic boulder that was tied to his torso by a thick piece of rope, trying very hard to keep up with Flamel at the front, with his trainer on Flamel's back. Stamina training, she said. Endurance training, she said. Can help him to evolve into a tyranitar, she said.

He really hope that it's all true, or he will really skewer her, getting roasted by Toothless or not.

"Almost there, Flowertail!"

The edge of larvitar's mouth twitched this time. Every single time when he thought he finally had some semblance of respect for his trainer, she would say something stupid like this and that previous budding feeling of respect will disappear. HE IS GOING TO BE THE **KING** OF THE MOUNTAIN DAMN IT! NO ONE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE HIM WITH A STUPID NAME LIKE FLOWERTAIL!

They took a short break as his trainer conversed with another trainer she met on the road. They are challenging each other to a battle, it seems. He had never participated in a battle for his trainer yet, although he had seen some of the other pokemons on the team battling. He had to admit, they are impressive. Fuzzy is right, excluding larvitar himself, anyone else on the team is way stronger than Fuzzy is. And Fuzzy was toying with him like a meowth with a ball of yarn.

 _'HEYA ROCKY!'_

Talk about perfect timing.

 _'Hey what'cha dreaming about? Shoo! Go! Vel's calling you for a battle.'_

Larvitar turned his gaze to his trainer, who is gesturing at him to come to her from her position on Flamel's back. He walked up to her a little unwillingly, although he is a little excited. This is the first trainer battle he is going to participate in.

"If you can win this battle, I'm going to see if you can start on how to learn Rock Surf, provided you are good with the basics. How about it?"

Larvitar nodded excitedly. His trainer can be annoying, but she knows what she is doing. She also always keeps her promise, and won't break it without any good reason, which is a plus for him.

He turned to his opponent on the other end, and his jaws dropped.

A big reptilian with red fins and blue scales at least five times his size stared back at him. Its jaws alone is bigger than him.

What in the flying Arceus fuck?

Even the other trainer seemed a little concerned. "Uh, are you sure about this? My feraligatr will eat him alive, you know? I got him from a friend as a croconaw only a few months ago. Even if he is new, he is over-qualified to take on your larvitar, and I am not even considering the type advantage here."

Larvitar nodded quickly to voice his approval. He loves to battle, but he is not an idiot. No way is he going on a suicide mission here.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Larvitar can win, I know it."

The other trainer just shrugged his shoulders.

Geez, there's confidence, then there's overconfidence, and then there's arrogance. Larvitar knew a losing battle when he sees one, he is not arrogant enough to claim that he can beat that blue _thing_.

 _'Oh quit your whining and just go.'_

Flamel kicked him forward with one of his front legs towards the big reptile. Larvitar scowled as he turned back towards Flamel.

 _'Vel won't take on pointless battles. Either she believes that you can really win, or she knows that you can learn something from this battle even if you lose. You said that you love to fight challenging battles. There, now you have it. Show us that you had really improved and that you did not waste any of our time. If you want a place on our team, earn it.'_

Flamel had a point.

Larvitar grumbled under his breath as he walked into a makeshift arena made of rocks that was raised by Bigblue. The moment both larvitar and the reptile were ready, the battle commenced.

The reptile fired off a jet of pressurised water, and larvitar ducked. This reptile is too slow, Toothless is way faster with his flames.

The reptile fired off a few more jets of water before taking a deep breath, summoning a massive wave of water from its mouth, flooding the entire arena.

Arceus save him.

"Larvitar, don't panic! Raise yourself off the ground with Stone Edge!"

 _'Stop ordering me around, human.'_

Despite his grumbling, larvitar can't help but follow his trainer's orders. He can't think of a better option himself.

The water crashed onto the base of the pillar of rock he just raised, shaking it slightly, but the pillar held and he is safe from the raging waters.

"Rock Polish!"

Larvitar summoned rocks that wiped itself across its entire body, giving his body a new shine, he can already feel the difference in power.

Wait a minute, when did he start to listen to his trainer? That wasn't supposed to happen!

"What are you daydreaming for? Get out of there!"

Larvitar barely had time to jump off and run away to a safe spot as the reptile's tail crashed into his pillar, destroying it instantly. If its tail hit him even once...

"Dark Pulse!"

Larvitar shot off a black beam of dark energy at the reptile, hitting it at the area between his jaws and neck, all the target and sniping practice had paid off, it seems.

The reptile roared as he fired off blasts of water at larvitar again and again, which larvitar dodged easily. This guy has nothing on the deranged rodent's annoying shenanigans.

Seeing as how its water attacks didn't connect at all, the reptile decided to get close and personal. He rushed to larvitar with a burst of speed, jaws snapping.

"Stay there! Focus! Wait for my command!"

What?! Larvitar has no intention to be the reptile's lunch for today, thank you very much.

"Just trust me!"

Seeing as it is too late to do anything else other than to follow his trainer's instructions. He did as he was told. The reptile's jaws opened and began to close around him, its teeth brimming with dark energy.

"NOW! Protect! Sphere version!"

Larvitar wasted no time in bringing a greenish shield that surrounded him from all sides in a sphere with him as its center. He watched in satisfaction as the reptile's open jaws closed itself against the shield violently, before the reptile jumped back and roared in pain, a few of its teeth breaking and falling out.

His satisfaction was cut short as the teeth simply grew back out a second later.

"Larvitar! Sandstorm!"

Larvitar didn't have time to hesitate on whether he should follow his trainer's command, that reptile is a monster. Its water attacks may not be able to touch him, but nothing he did managed to faze it either. If his trainer had a way to allow them to get a win, he might as well try to follow her orders.

The sandstorm brewed and raged across the arena, blinding the reptile.

"Earth Power! Trap it!"

Larvitar quickly used that move to loosen the ground around the reptile. He knew what his trainer had planned. He saw Snap used it a few days ago.

The reptile fell into a sea of sand around it as it tried to swim out of it. Not a chance.

"Dark Pulse! Keep it in!"

Larvitar fired off beams upon beams of dark energy, trying to hit critical spots that he knew will cause pain to his foe. The reptile was forced to block the onslaught, but the momentary distraction only serves to let it sink deeper into the sands.

"Focus Rock! Snipe version! Full power!"

Recalling his training, larvitar lifted a single pebble off the ground, and shot it towards that blasted reptile. It hit it squarely on his bottom jaw, which was where he wanted his pebble to hit, and felt glee as he saw how the reptile's lower jaw got dislocated as a result.

"Rock Tomb! Trap it!"

Larvitar summoned rocks, bigger than anything he had managed to conjure before, before raining it down, this time with purpose, as the first rock hit the reptile exactly on the top of its head. The next rock landed in front of it, cutting off its immediate escape route, and three more rocks landed at his sides and back, boxing him in a square in the middle of the quicksand.

"Rock Coffin! Crush it!"

Remembering how Lily had executed that brutal move, larvitar willed the rocks just as how he imagined it to be. Lily had told him that the key to mastering rock techniques lies in the imagination. Doesn't matter how absurd it seems, if he can will it, it will happen. They managed to show him how to surf the ground, didn't they?

The individual rocks changed and merged into one single piece of rock by merging their point of contacts with each other. The now singular box-sized square piece of rock starts to compress inwards with the reptile at the center, attempting to squish it into paste.

The reptile broke roared and broke through the rocks in an impressive show of strength, probably used a physical move of some kind. It had also reset his previously dislocated jaw. Luckily, it's still trapped in the sands.

Not that it mattered to the reptile, it simply shot a beam of ice, created a platform out of it, and proceeded to make its way out of the sand trap.

 _Ah, tauros crap._

The reptile dashed at larvitar again, and swung its mighty tail packed with water energy.

"Brace yourself! Take the Aqua Tail, then counter with Payback!"

That tail attack of the reptile's hurts, but he had been through worse on the mountain. He gathered the dark energy within him, coated himself in it, the damage he taken from the reptile's attack giving it extra power, and slammed himself into the reptile.

The reptile flinched briefly, but took this chance to try and grabbed it with its claws.

"Double Team!"

Larvitar left an after-image at his previous location as he blurred away from his position, leaving copies of himself on the arena while he hid among them.

"Focus Rock! Then Assurance!"

Larvitar shot a rock from below the reptile upwards into his lower jaw again, which sent the reptile's head to be thrown upwards from the impact. He dashed in again, coating himself in a similar dark energy as before, but slightly different, as he rammed himself into the same spot that he had slammed into the reptile previously, aggravating the reptile's existing wounds.

The damage from the accumulated attacks is too much for the reptile to shrug it off, and he roared as he tried in vain to catch and crush larvitar. That possibility is slim to none, not after he used Rock Polish to increase his speed.

He slid himself underneath the reptile, and shot a wicked Stone Edge upwards at the reptile, shooting it up into the air before it fell back down again.

The reptile tried to flood the area again, but larvitar simply raised itself with rocks upwards and away from the water and returned fire with volleys of Focus Rocks. The reptile unleashed a Blizzard from its opened jaws, trying to stop the rocks in its tracks. The rocks just simply ignored the harsh and powerful winds of Blizzard and continued its trajectory, raining down on the reptile who screamed in pain.

 _Thank Arceus for Bigblue's teachings._

Larvitar did not need reminders from his trainer as he kept up the attack, whittling his foe down surely and slowly. Before he met his trainer, he would simply rain rocks as many as possible and as large as he could possibly summon. Now, he will rain rocks that are smaller, each packing a larger force behind it, while conserving his strength. Conjuring numerous large rocks will take up and waste a lot of his strength, strength that he does not possess yet, a lesson that Lily had drilled into him on their very first lesson. Big does not always equate to better.

The reptile summoned geysers of water from the ground as it created a shield around itself, halting larvitar's assault. Its entire body glowed blue, and larvitar can feel the reptile's power increasing.

Not good.

"Sandstorm again!"

Larvitar whipped up another sandstorm, a bigger one that what he last produced as the reptile shot a powerful blast of water which he promptly dodged.

The reptile got mad and summoned another huge wave of water, large enough to swallow and block out the sandstorm, and tried to drag larvitar under the waters and drown him.

The lessons on blocking and stalling quickly kicked in, as larvitar rose several large wall of rocks that acted as temporary dams as the waters crashed into the outermost wall. Larvitar created pathways made of rocks that directed the brunt of it away from him to somewhere else. He also opened holes on the ground to let the water drain deep into the ground. _Water always flow through the path of least resistance._ That was what his trainer had told him when she taught him on ways to fight large amounts of water. _If you cannot face it head-on, redirect it._

The reptile didn't let up, and crashed through the first wall of rocks. The water had receded enough so that it would not be a huge threat to larvitar for now.

The reptile broke through his last line of defense just as larvitar drained the waters. The reptile had took a bit of damage trying to break through his defense, but is still able to fight.

"Focus Rock! Trap it in Coffin mode!"

The walls of rocks that the reptile destroyed had broken into many smaller pieces and they laid scattered across the arena. Larvitar narrowed his eyes and concentrated, linking his powers to every single rock he can feel lying on the ground. The reptile watched in trepidation as countless pieces of rocks that accumulated since the start of their battle floated into the air around the both of them, hovering dangerously.

With a mental command, larvitar send all these rocks shooting towards the reptile, dealing tons of damage and clumping around the reptile like a cocoon. He slowly compressed the area, making the rocks cave inwards towards the reptile as the center. The cocoon of rocks slowly compressed as he heard the pained screams that came from the reptile.

"I give! Release my feraligatr!"

"Larvitar, release it."

Unwillingly, larvitar let the cocoon of rocks fall loosely away from the reptile, who is now lying on the ground wheezing in pain. Getting pressed by rocks on all sides of its body, unable to move and do anything as they keep pressing inwards towards you, is not a pleasant experience. He was on the receiving end of it once when Lily had first demonstrated this attack.

He watched as the other trainer recalled the reptile back into its pokeball, congratulated him and his trainer for their win, and walked away.

The annoying rodent slapped him on his back, which almost sent him falling down on his face, he glared at him.

 _'What now?'_

 _'HEYA ROCKY! Why so serious? You just won! You won your first trainer battle with Vel!'_

 _'It was a good fight. Got to admit, that was a good performance. Wasn't expecting you to win.'_

 _'Hey, do you see how he moved back there? I taught him that! I shot flames at him while he dodged all day!'_

 _'See the rock techniques he used? That's the main he reason he won, me and Lily spent hours with him on that!'_

 _'I concur.'_

 _'As much as I hate to say it, maybe the brute isn't a waste of space after all.'_

 _'Good job, newbie.'_

 _'That was fun! Hey! Think you could fight me next time? We can even go on a prank spree later!'_

 _'The sand pit still need some work, but it is good enough for your first try. Good job on that Earth Power. Loosening the ground with that move is not easy.'_

"Good job larvitar." His trainer clapped her hands as she smiled down at him. "That wasn't as hard as it was supposed to be, was it? You can win if you play it smart. I can't promise you that we will always win, but all I need was for you to trust me. Was that fun? A little tiring, definitely, but it was fun, right? Fighting a foe like that is a real challenge for you right now, but it won't be in the future when you evolve. You will probably evolve soon, from what I can see, maybe give it another week, maybe lesser. You are growing really fast for a larvitar, so I can't be too sure. Take a break for today. You can start learning how to Rock Surf tomorrow, your performance just now showed me that you already had the basics down. You will master it in no time, that's for sure. You are a rock type pokemon after all."

Larvitar looked up at his trainer in awe, and never felt so much respect for another being in his life. Her pokemon were the main ones who were doing the teaching, but she was the one who invented and guided them on how to apply and used these techniques in the first place. She guided him and helped to bring victory to him on his first trainer battle, against a foe that had a type advantage against him no less. That was a foe that he would never dream of facing before as a larvitar, but not only did he faced him in a one on one battle, he _won_.

He suddenly felt that being the king of the mountain is no longer a pipedream anymore, not for long.

Larvitar did the only thing he never thought he would do to another being. He walked up to his trainer, who he now acknowledge her by her given name, Velda, and bowed.

The team was right, he didn't deserve her. But despite his shitty attitude, she taught him how to fight, and how to get stronger. She is a good human, not the strongest he'd seen, that honour goes to her brother, but she never treated him as a lesser being.

She saw him as an equal. Now that he thought about it, Rena had told Velda about his dream, but Velda had never laughed at it, but merely asked him whether being a king is truly a fun thing.

No, not anymore. Being a king is fun, and so are battles. He did not admit it to anyone else, but during his time with Velda that was spent travelling and training, he had a lot of fun seeing new places and taking in new sights. He saw things that he will never dream of, and did things that he could never achieve on the mountain. He still wants to be king, but there is more to be done before he goes back to the mountain and claim his rightful title of the king of the mountain.

He really wants to go and see the vast world together with Velda. He now have a desire to learn, to see every single possibility.

He actually wants to stay by Velda's side, to finally be a recognised member of her team.

"Raise your head, larvitar, you have nothing to thank me for. A lot of your achievements is done through your own hard work and the contributions from the other members of the team. You should thank them later." She got down from Flamel's back, walked up to him and knelt down to his level. "I don't think we had gotten off to a good start. So I will reintroduce myself again. Hello, larvitar, my name is Velda Vera, and my dream is to travel the world. I cannot promise that we will be the strongest team, but I promise to try and be the best trainer for you. We are currently competing in the Hoenn gym circuit. Will you like to join me on my journey?"

Velda held out a hand as the other members of the team crowd around them and watched.

Larvitar stared at Velda's outstretched hand, and extended one of his stubby arms to her.

"I have thought of a name for you ever since I saw you. How about Kratos? I had read a long, long time ago that it was a name that belongs to a man who is a divine personification of strength. You love to fight, and all you wanted was the strength to be king. So how about it? Can we call you Kratos?"

Larvitar, no, Kratos, grinned. He liked the meaning of that name.

"Welcome to the team, Kratos. Let's have an enjoyable journey, shall we?"

* * *

 **AN: Never thought that I will publish a chapter so soon, but the content came out so naturally that I just cannot stop typing. I loved it when I typed the conversation between the pokemon on Velda's team and I actually laughed at interactions I wrote myself when I first proof-read it. I hoped you found it funny as well.**

 **I decided to give the majority of the screen time in this chapter to Fuzzy and Kratos, since Rena got all the spotlight in the previous chapter.**

 **It's late, and I should be asleep four hours ago. No regrets though, this is the chapter that I had the most fun in typing.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmeleon (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Larvitar, (Kratos), male**


	13. Chapter 13- A Gym Leader's True Power

_'That's the third gym trainer that got demolished by that espeon.'_

A wall of flames rose and engulfed a noctowl of the fourth gym trainer.

 _'And the charmeleon too, pretty well-trained. Why hasn't it evolved yet?'_

Winona sat in her private quarters as she read the novel Wallace just gave her, occasionally looking at the screen beside her. The live video footage showed the cat and lizard duo sweeping through her gym trainers like they are taking a stroll in their own garden.

 _'Who does these pokemon belong to?'_

Winona got up from her seat and checked the earlier video footages, trying to find out who is the current challenger that is clearing out her gym trainers in battle. No advanced trainer had managed to beat the gym trainers that easily before.

She rewind the videos until she got a good look of the challenger that walked through her gym doors. She wore a black sleeveless shirt and dark blue skirt that ended right before her knees. Upon zooming in, she saw that the challenger have blond hair and emerald green eyes.

 _'It's her. That explains it.'_

Norman had recently told the other gym leaders that Velda, the trainer which have caught their eyes more than half a year ago, had resumed her journey about three months ago after recovering from her untimely sickness. Winona clearly remembered the worry she felt for the young trainer when she first heard that Velda actually fainted right at the end of her battle with Norman, and fell into a coma. It would be a waste of potential if the trainer cannot continue to be a trainer due to her sickness. She had to admit that she was a little disappointed in not being able to face Velda in battle when she got the news from Norman that she was put on a travel ban by the doctors, she had been excited to face Velda in battle.

And now here she is, demolishing her gym trainers.

Winona wasted no time in donning her flying suit over her white shirt and lilac long pants. She grabbed her helmet and whistled for Bard outside her quarters, her starter and altaria, who sang a greeting as Winona climbed onto his back.

"To the gym, Bard, there will be an exciting battle today."

Bard sang once more, and flew towards the gym with his trainer on his back. He hasn't seen Winona getting so excited for a gym battle in a long time. Will it be an Elite challenge this time? It's been a long time since he can cut loose, not many can stand before the combined might of him and his trainer.

"Sorry Bard, the challenger is an advanced trainer." His trainer, as if sensing his thoughts, spoke to him. "But I can show you a video of our battle later on the TV. That challenger actually defeated all of the previous gym leaders in battle. Maybe we can challenge her again after she becomes an Elite trainer. How about it?"

Bard whistled a tune. Now _that_ is impressive. No wonder his trainer is so eager to go to the gym today. Fighting such an opponent sounds fun. He cannot wait for the challenger to grow into an Elite trainer already. Will his trainer put an end to the challenger's win streak?

The gym appeared in their sights and Bard landed gently on the ground. His trainer jumped onto the ground from his back. She turned around and cupped both sides of his head fondly.

"Sorry partner, but I will try to find worthy opponents for you soon. Those are hard to come by nowadays. Wallace and I are going to meet soon, maybe we can have a spar with him?"

Bard sang back. He knew that he is too absurdly strong for most pokemons to be a challenge for him right now. Wallace's pokemons are stronger, and the only ones that can best him in battle as far as he knew. There are other strong pokemons from the other gym leaders, but they never fought before since their respective trainers have no desire to.

It's lonely to be at the top.

Bard watched as his trainer walked through the back door of the gym, the one that only authorised personnel are allowed to use. He spread his wings and flew again. His trainer will call for him when she is done.

Maybe he should get some training in as well. Winona did promise a spar with Wallace's pokemon. He had been getting a little lax in training from the lack of worthy opponents.

He changed his course and headed for the secret training field that only his trainer and the other members of his team knew. Maybe Scales can help with his training? They are both fellow dragons after all, on top of being a flying type.

He saw a Hurricane brewing at the secret training field. That's a good sign. Scales is up for a battle today.

Bard dove down and roared a challenge, different from the usual tunes he sang. It's time to get serious.

He have a battle to prepare for.

* * *

Winona was surprised to see that Velda was already waiting for her in the challenger's box of the arena. How did she clear the gym trainers in the short amount of time she flew here?

A pachirisu that made itself comfortable on Velda's shoulders squeaked excitedly, pointing at Winona. This brought Velda's attention onto Winona herself.

Winona and Velda had a short and friendly conversation while they completed the registration process. The gym leaders that interacted with Velda before all had high praises for her, especially Roxanne, who was the first to notice Velda's potential, and Norman, who Velda had worked under for more than half a year.

This trainer actually caught Norman's eye. Winona knew how high Norman's standards are, she worked with him a few times in her short stay in ACE, before she resigned and became a gym leader. That had been almost a decade now. Norman could have been a gym leader like her at that time, but there were no other vacancies and Norman preferred to stay in ACE, until he got married recently.

Norman actually got married, that was the biggest shock of the century. He actually got himself married before her, and she had been dating her boyfriend for far longer too.

Well, that can't be helped. Both she and her boyfriend are busy people, sometimes they can't even meet once a month. Winona idly wondered if the other gym leaders had much of a dating life, and how they managed to date on top of their busy schedule if they do. Juan got married before becoming a gym leader, Tate and Liza are still kids, Flannery... let's not go there. Her train of thoughts can be a little hard to follow, and it is hard to keep up with her energy level. So that's probably a no. Wattson's wife died a long time ago, and he never remarried. Brawly and Roxanne are nice people, but they never talk much to her due to a lack of common topics to talk about and the geographical location of their workplace means a lack of interaction. So Winona don't know much about their personal lives.

Winona suspected that there is something fishy going on between Brawly and Roxanne due to the way they interacted with each other in the last gym leaders' meeting. She had no evidence, but her sixth sense is tingling and her senses are rarely wrong when it comes to gossip.

Yes, even gym leaders gossip. Gym leaders need to lead a normal life as well.

The registration process was completed, and both Winona and Velda took the positions on the opposite ends of the arena. This will be a 6 vs 6 single battle as per usual, with a maximum of 6 pokemon each for both sides.

Winona had more than that number of pokemons on her currently, but seeing that it is Velda that she is facing, she decided to use the pokemons that are on the higher end of the advanced level. Maybe one or two that are almost at the Elite level, if the battles got exciting.

Winona sent out her swellow, who gave a cry as it shot into the air, circling the battlefield before hovering in front of her, eyes sharp and ready for battle.

Velda sent out a pupitar and Winona can feel her interest in Velda rising. Raising a pupitar into a tyranitar is a very delicate process, not to mention the amount of time and effort needed to devote in raising its species.

Winona's swellow shot towards pupitar leaving a sonic boom in its wake. This swellow has always been an impatient one.

Pupitar merely stood still as it raised rocks from the ground to shield itself from swellow's Steel Wing. That won't be enough to stop swellow, its wings can smash through concrete. Swellow bashed its wings into the rock shield, shattering it immediately, expecting to find its prey.

Only to find nothing.

 _Where'd it go?_

The pupitar had literally disappeared. There were no traces of it anywhere, it's like it teleported away. That's not possible, the pupitar species does not know teleport. So how had it disappeared without a trace?

"Kratos! City of Pillars!"

At once, the ground shook and pillars of rocks shot up from the ground. One of the pillars grazed swellow as it tried to get away from one of the rising pillars that rose beside it. The pillars rose rapidly all around the arena, and only stopped when it touched the ceiling of the gym.

 _I see now, so that's what she's planning._

Simply by raising pillars of rock, Velda had created an obstacle course for all of her flying pokemon. The battle is taking place in an indoor environment, and even if the ceilings are high enough to accommodate an aerial battle, there is a limit to how high flying type pokemon can fly. By raising the pillars to the height of her gym's ceiling, her pokemon have no choice but to fly around it, or destroy the pillars, which will waste unnecessary strength. Pupitar can simply raise the pillars again. So that means that the only choice left for her pokemon is to get around it. Winona doesn't think that the outcome will change even if the battle was taken outdoors. Pupitar clearly has the ability to raise the pillars even higher than those it just raised. Most of her pokemon on the advanced level also cannot deal significant damage to pupitar while flying up high, but pupitar's attacks can reach them from the ground, if the height of the pillars is any indication. Some of her other pokemons have more long-ranged attacks, but not swellow. Winona's swellow will be forced to fight up close no matter the outcome.

Pupitar had also lured swellow close to the ground by staying still and disappeared with its vanishing act, almost getting a clean hit on swellow with its pillars. All of these is achieved with a single move.

Velda had blossomed under Norman's tutelage, that's for sure.

Still, _where_ did the pupitar go?

"Kratos, Sandstorm! Then make it rain!"

Rain? Pupitar _is_ capable of learning Rain Dance, but what does a pupitar need rain for? It's neither a water or electric type pokemon.

The sands on the arena swirled before unleashing itself on the arena as a sandstorm. Swellow squawked as it tried to push through the high wind speeds created by the sandstorm, the situation is getting more unfavourable to her by the second.

"Swellow, Defog! Blow it away!"

Defog is not usually used like this, it is not meant to be used like this. But the strong winds produced by Defog is strong enough to blow away the sandstorm, clearing the skies once again.

Winona widened her eyes the moment the sandstorm cleared. They'd been had! The sandstorm was only a distraction!

Rocks appeared all around the air above swellow just when the sandstorm subsided. They are of various sizes, hovering dangerously in midair.

It rained.

The skies of her gym rained _rocks_.

Swellows dodged many of the rocks with aerial maneuvers that Winona had personally taught herself. It is not enough. There were too many rocks for swellow to safely avoid all of them. Pupitar just unleashed a large Rock Slide all over the arena, forcing swellow to be on the run. Is Velda aiming to tire swellow out?

Rocks continued to rain from the skies above as they piled up on the arena, swellow was gradually forced to fly lower and lower.

Oh no.

"Swellow! Pull up! Don't get close to the ground!"

Pupitar was half luring, half forcing swellow to fly closer to the ground. There was a small area that did not rain as heavily as the others. Flying above the rocks was impossible given the sheer number of rocks falling from the sky. That means that there was only a specific area that was relatively safer for swellow to fly to, which it did.

It was a trap. A very impressive trap. Just how many moves did Velda and her pokemon think ahead?

The fact that pupitar was constantly luring swellow to fly lower means that it can only be hiding underground, which she should have thought of earlier. Where else can it go anyway?

Swellow pulled up, dodging and weaving through the gaps of the falling rocks. They have to put a stop to the rocks, then force pupitar out of the ground, or swellow will tire itself out eventually. They have been on the defensive for too long. Time for a large attack, swellow will sustain some damage to itself, but it will force pupitar out. No pain, no gain.

"Sky Attack! Aim for the ground! Flush it out!"

Swellow cloaked itself in a harsh light before diving down straight into the ground. The resulting impact created an earthquake that shook the gym violently. This attack is not a real Earthquake, but the effects are similar enough. Any pokemon hiding underground will take a lot of damage from the vibrations. That pupitar will be forced to come out if it doesn't want to experience another of these tremors.

Swellow flew out of the resulting cloud of dust, looking a little battered from the self-inflicted damage, but also looking proud of itself for managing to stop the rain of falling rocks. They stopped falling immediately after the Sky Attack. That pupitar must have been too damaged by the artificial earthquake to maintain its focus on the Rock Slide.

Winona and swellow carefully scanned the ground of the arena. Pupitar will be coming out anytime now.

Pupitar did come out, but not in the way they expected.

Pupitar burst out from within one of the rock pillars that was raised at the start of the battle and propelled itself towards swellow, nailing swellow's torso by slamming its tough armour against swellow and sent them flying through one pillar before crashing into the one behind it.

That pupitar wasn't hiding in the ground at all! It was hiding in one of the pillars it had raised since the very start! It tricked Winona and swellow to damage itself willingly with Sky Attack!

"Kratos! Smack Down!"

Pupitar summoned a huge rock that slammed into swellow from above, knocking it into the ground below.

"Stone Edge!"

A large jagged rock shot up from below swellow and punched swellow as it was sent flying once again into the air before another Smack Down sent it dropping down. Another Stone Edge hit swellow from below and the pupitar used another Smack Down to hit it down once more. The whole process kept repeating itself.

Winona had no choice but to recall swellow back to its pokeball lest it becomes pupitar's ping-pong ball. It's too injured to continue battling anyway.

"Good job Kratos!"

Winona silently agreed. That was a job well done. They had led her around by the nose the entire time.

Time to amp up the pace of the battle. She had a reputation to maintain.

Winona's pelipper flew into battle, giving a deep squawk at pupitar, who is still uninjured from its previous battle. Will Velda let it continue battling despite the type disadvantage? Type advantages are not as big as an advantage it used to be once a trainer reaches the advanced level. Advanced trainers will have their pokemon prepared against any type disadvantages, so it is possible that Velda's pupitar would have something prepared even for a foe like pelipper.

Velda recalled pupitar, and sent out a pokemon that she had only seen once before in the hands of another trainer. A cradily.

Winona had only the vaguest idea on how to face this prehistoric pokemon. The only other time she saw a live cradily was the one that belonged to Steven Stone, and he didn't use it in battle against her when he was completing his gym circuit. The abilities of this pokemon is an unknown, and it is obviously well-trained from what she saw with a glance of her eyes, even more so than the espeon and charmeleon she had seen Velda used before. It is going to be a challenge taking cradily down.

A challenge that she accepted.

Pelipper blasted jets of water at cradily, who simply swayed out of the way on the spot it is standing at. Pelipper blasted a Hydro Pump at its feet in response, the only part of cradily that didn't move, and probably can't move. A wall of rocks blocked the attack.

Winona gritted her teeth. If pelipper can't blast it away, then they will just blow it away.

"Pelipper, Hurricane! Sweep it off!"

A large hurricane was formed with a few beats of pelipper's powerful wings, and pelipper sent it crashing into the cradily, who simply stood still and withstood the attack. But the cradily didn't even move from its spot, even if it took significant damage. How?

The cradily's body limped sideways after the Hurricane, looking absolutely damaged. Good, time to finish this.

"Pelipper, use-"

Winona was cut short as she watched in shocked at the speed in which cradily healed her wounds. Its wounds vanished in the blink of an eye as the limped cradily was revitalised and sprang up from its spot on the ground, looking absolutely refreshed.

"That was a Stockpile and Swallow combo, if you are wondering. Lily has been Stockpiling ever since it has been released for battle. That's why it hasn't attacked yet."

That piece of information made Winona's eyes widened in realisation before she recovered her composure. The speed in which cradily Stockpiled is fast.

"That recovery speed was fast, I give you that. But can you keep playing defensively like that?"

"Stockpile was just a precaution. I plan to go on the offensive here. Lily! Swing into action!"

Winona witnessed one of the most eye-boggling thing she ever witnessed in her career as a trainer. The cradily spread and lengthened its tentacles, before wrapping one of its tentacles around a nearby rock pillar, and true to Velda's command, literally swung itself from pillar to pillar. Winona and pelipper stared in surprise, _that's_ how cradily moved around? She will have to make a call to Prof. Birch later to check about the cradily species.

Seeing how cradily swing itself easily across the pillars, Winona suddenly felt the urgent need to destroy the pillars, she never thought that Velda would have planned so many steps ahead with one move. She needs to destroy cradily's ability to move around fluidly across the arena.

"Whirlpool!"

Pelipper produced a raging swirling mass of water that engulfed the entire arena, sweeping the pillars and destroying each of them in turn. The large amount of water and debris was so thick that Winona could not see what was happening within the whirlpool. What will Velda do now?

The Whirlpool subsided, and cradily just stood in the middle of where the Whirlpool used to be, wet but otherwise unharmed, swaying on the spot playfully.

"Stop swaying, Lily. You have a pelipper to catch here."

Upon its trainer's words, cradily pointed two tentacles to the ground and lifted itself up from the ground, its tentacles acting as legs, before "walking" awkwardly, but not slowly, towards pelipper, picking up speed along the way. Winona really do not know if she should stare on in wonder, or laugh at the brilliant stupidity happening in front of her eyes. This whole gym battle had felt like a joke for some reason, as if whatever powers that Winona had in her hands cannot be unleashed properly, that it had been muffled somehow. Velda is not taking this battle seriously, is she?

"Pelipper, Blizzard."

Pelipper sucked in a breath before unleashing a snowstorm across the battlefield, dropping the temperature and turning the battlefield into a crystallised white.

"Rock Armour."

Cradily raised rocks from the ground before covering itself with plates of rocks as a makeshift armour. The armour is well-made, the armours are smooth and didn't hinder cradily's movement as it braved the Blizzard. The ice from Blizzard covered the armour, but didn't harm the wearer within. It is an ingenious move. Cradily's advance towards pelipper hasn't been stopped.

Winona bit the inside of her cheek. She is running out of options. She is wary of a close quarter combat with cradily due to its tentacles, but her long range moves didn't even faze the prehistoric plant. Cradily can also heal itself in the same time she took to blink. There is nothing she can do to deal heavy damage to cradily.

"Pelipper, return! Go honchkrow!"

The dark crow pokemon screeched, and flew around cradily, looking for a chance to strike. Velda's gaze hardened, and Winona finally saw Velda getting serious.

"Lily, you need to take out honchkrow so that the rest of our team can come out later. Get serious. City of Pillars. Now."

Winona watched in frustration as the pillars that she thought she had gotten rid of once and for all rose once more to their full height from the ground into the ceiling. Honchkrow fired off a few Air Cutter to try to cut down a few pillars, but more pillars will rise to take their place. Seeing the difference in speed in which the pillars are created, Winona realised that Velda's pupitar was only an amateur when it comes to this "City of Pillars" move. Cradily is the master here.

"Go, grab it."

"Heat Wave!"

Honchkrow exhaled hot breaths of air at cradily while it simply swung through the heat and into the air faster than what she previously witnessed. Whatever wounds cradily suffered from Heat Wave was healed by Recover an instant later as it continued to make its charge towards honchkrow, who is flying around trying to avoid cradily's charge. A long piece of grass suddenly shot from up from the ground, snaring honchkrow by its feet with Grass Knot, delaying honchkrow just enough for cradily to wrapped its tentacles around honchkrow. One of it wrapped around honchkrow's beak, preventing honchkrow from opening it, two of the tentacles curled around on both honchkrow's wings, one on each wing, another tentacle wrapped around honchkrow's torso as another tied both its legs together.

"Wring Out, followed by Giga Drain."

Cradily gave a crushing squeeze on honchkrow as it cried out in pain from its forcefully closed beak. Winona watched on as cradily greedily sapped away honchkrow's energy with Giga Drain.

"Drill Peck! Then Incinerate!"

Honchkrow spun itself at high speeds, which forced cradily to free it, before breathing out scorching flames at cradily at point-blank range. Honchkrow didn't let up on the flames, and continued to breathe a Heat Wave on cradily after Incinerate ended, engulfing cradily in flames once more.

"Tailwind."

Honchkrow whipped up a turbulent whirlwind that can be felt throughout the arena. A normal Tailwind raises the speed for the pokemons on the user's side, honchkrow's Tailwind in this case had the added effect of fanning the flames, causing it to grow bigger.

When the flames ended, the cradily limped, with its head on the ground and tentacles burned, breathing heavily. Only one more hit in and it's over for cradily. Honchkrow dived down, determined to end it with an Aerial Ace

"Lily," Winona heard Velda called out to cradily with a tinge of fond exasperation just as honchkrow is speeding towards it. "stop playing dead already. I know you survived the attack with Endure. Heal yourself up already. I know you don't like to battle flying types but just take down the honchkrow for me. _Please?_ We really need to get this honchkrow out of the way first. I won't send you out again after this unless I really need to."

Winona watched for what could be the third or fourth time as cradily's healing prowess healed it back up to full health in a split second. It snared honchkrow with its tentacles once more as honchkrow tried to change directions at the last minute, and slammed it onto the ground with a Smack Down. It shot a highly powered stream of water from its mouth, sending honchkrow into unconsciousness with a well-aimed Brine.

"Thank you, Lily. Sorry about this. Return."

Winona watched as the cradily gurgled happily before returning to its pokeball, seemingly happy that it doesn't need to battle anymore.

"Sorry about that, but Lily hates to fight flying type pokemon for some reason."

Winona grunted a response as her eyebrows furrowed. Velda is clearly above the level of an advanced trainer. None of Velda's pokemon that Winona saw felt motivated to battle seriously, except for the pupitar, who is probably new to the team given the difference in power between the pupitar and Velda's cradily, charmeleon and espeon. Velda is probably at the level of an Elite trainer already, even if she does not realise it, if the way she carried herself is any indication. She is more than worthy of the Feather Badge from her performance so far. None of her pokemons at the advanced level can make her feel any pressure in battle. Hell, even Winona herself don't feel the need to continue this farce of a battle anymore. But quitting here right now leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

"I am going to change the rules of the battle, right here, right now." Winona spoke as Velda's reactions showed her surprise. "None of my pokemons on the advanced level can make you feel any pressure, and you don't seem motivated in continuing this battle. I don't blame you, they are too easy for you to handle at your current level. Why fight a poochyena when you can easily fight off a salamence? So, I am going to spice things up." Winona pressed a button, which opened the roofs of the gym. The ceilings parted, revealing the clear blue sky of Hoenn. The battlefield has widened, the sky is now the battlefield.

Winona put a silver whistle in her mouth and blew. The shrill sound of the whistle was responded with a loud roar.

Velda eyes widened in fright as a large dragonite and altaria flew in through the opened ceiling and landed on the battlefield violently in an earthquake, decimating any remaining rock pillars on the battlefield. The walls of the gym folded away, and only the arena was left in which the gym once stood. It's like the gym had never been there.

"This special feature to hide away the entire gym cost me a bomb, but I needed the feature. The gym is too small for my flying type pokemons when they have to go all out, and I hardly use it because I rarely met challengers that can force me to. You should feel honoured, Velda. The last time I did this was when Steven Stone challenged my gym for the Feather Badge. Release your entire team for battle, you will need them to fight all at once. The maximum of six pokemon rule doesn't apply anymore to you, I had already rescind it. These are the last two pokemons you will have to face in my gym if you want to earn my badge. Steel yourself, harden your wings. You will need every single drop of power you have if you want to face both Bard and Scales together and come out alive."

Bard and Scales roared in response, eager to face a worthy opponent.

Winona saw Velda gripped the hem of her skirt tightly as she scowled, seemingly deep in thought, before she released her entire team out for battle.

Winona placed the goggles attached to her helmet over her eyes as both her's and the challenger's box retreated further away from the arena, the psychic barriers won't contain the power of those of her main team. Retreating backwards was the only option to keep both trainers safe. The winds around her picked up as Bard and Scales began to release their power, it's been a long time since they can cut loose.

They are going to go all out.

* * *

"Kel, dodge it!"

A Hyper Beam shot into where Kel was, who was saved by Kratos when he Rock Surfed her away. I've never felt so screwed in my life before. I was not prepared for _this_.

The Hyper Beam created a crater the size of a snorlax, and the debris flew past my team and I to crash somewhere behind us. The psychic barriers surrounding the arena was long gone, incapable of containing the powers being thrown around by dragonite and altaria. The Hyper Beam wasn't even fully powered. Holy mother of Arceus.

"Flamel, get closer!"

Flamel jumped up and climbed from pillars to pillars that Bigblue had raised like a mountain goat, with Toothless clung onto his back as his rider, breathing flames at altaria who either redirected the flames with a single beat of its wings, or flew out of the way. Rena fired off her attacks as she stayed close to Bigblue, who is busy maintaining our line of defense together with Lily, who had finally gotten serious in her battle the moment she spotted altaria and dragonite, the presence of the twin dragons practically screaming "DANGER!".

There's no way these two aren't on her main team. They are too freakishly strong.

Winona haven't even give a single command to her pokemons, and they are toying with us.

 ** _This_** is the power of one of the thirteen pillars of Hoenn.

That dragonite of hers took to the skies again as it summoned a Hurricane, intending to destroy Bigblue and Lily, taking out our defenders. Dolly and Rena used a Psychic in conjunction, and only barely managed to redirect the Hurricane to another direction, missing its target. Snap crashed furiously into the dragonite with a Dragon Rush, clawing furiously and spewing flames to drive it off, giving Bigblue and Lily some breathing space. Even Fuzzy joined in the battle on Snap's back, and he tried to pin Winona's twin dragons down with its electricity, sending huge bursts of it. However, anything on the power of a Shock Wave or below had no effect, as we had found out shortly after the start of the battle. I would have tried to slowly wear them down with a status ailment, but dragonite is constantly protecting itself and altaria with a Safeguard. Perish Song won't be of any use since it will just take everyone in the arena down with it, which isn't the point of this battle. I'm not sure if I will subject Dolly to Suicide Maneuvers, I'm not sure if my team can hold off long enough for Curse to bring the twin dragons down. I'm running out of options other than to defend and wait.

Bigblue saved Flamel and Toothless from a possible KO from altaria with a Battering Ram, putting himself in harm's way to defend his teammates, summoning rocks to shield and battle what is known to the public as a gentle songbird, but is a vicious dragon-bird under Winona's command. Altaria tried to put Bigblue to sleep with a Sing, but was interrupted by Kel with a Throat Chop, temporarily preventing any usage of sound based attacks. Flamel attacked altaria with his own version of Battering Ram by slamming down on its back after it jumped and dropped down from the air with Bounce while Toothless blasted altaria with a Dragon Pulse from Flamel's back, one of its egg moves.

Altaria just threw them off and flew into the air again, it performed a Dragon Dance out of the reach of our attacks, and began to glow brightly.

"Incoming Sky Attack from Altaria! Defend!"

Altaria sped down from the sky with an audible 'boom' and crashed into the ground, sending shock waves and flying debris all over the area. My pokemon huddled behind Bigblue and Lily, who raised rock shields while Kel and Kratos helped to maintain a shield of Protect at the front of the shields. Even then, my entire team were pushed back.

"Incoming Hyper Beam from dragonite! Snap! Intercept it!"

Snap dashed into the skies with Fuzzy on its back, firing its own Hyper Beam as the two beams of condensed energies collided and exploded in the sky. Fuzzy tried to disrupt dragonite's vision with bright sparks of electricity, but dragonite just seemed unaffected. Bigblue's Ice Beam saved Snap from dragonite's Dragon Claw as Snap flew away from dragonite's reach, Snap had overextended himself back there.

In an incredible display of acrobatics and heroics, Fuzzy jumped off from Snap's back, created a platform with Protect in midair, and used it as a foothold to jump onto dragonite's back, running around its entire length while shooting attacks, trying to annoy it as much as possible.

Nice one, Fuzzy! But since when can he do that?!

Snap took the opportunity to heal itself briefly with Roost, before slashing at dragonite with Dragon Claw. Snap's ranged attacks was too dangerous for Fuzzy with him riding on dragonite. Fuzzy had stopped sparking, the electric attacks probably cannot penetrate dragonite's thick scales. It's not the end of the world, Fuzzy has more than electricity as its weapons.

"Fuzzy, Super Fang!"

There are always some weird moves that can reduce a pokemon's health to a set percentage no matter how strong the target of the move is. Super Fang is one of them, together with Endeavour. Scientists have never figured out the 'how' part of it either, but I'm not complaining.

Fuzzy chomped down hard into dragonite from where he is using his sharp front fang, and dragonite gave its first scream of pain. Super Fang reduces the target's health to half of what it originally is before getting inflicted by the move. Fuzzy's Super Fang was the first attack to deal significant damage to dragonite. We all know that we cannot allow dragonite the opportunity to recover its lost health with Roost. Snap grabbed the opportunity Fuzzy opened for us, and increased the ferocity of his attacks, slashing with his claws and shooting Laser Breath from its mouth at close range. Despite this, dragonite is still able to hold off their combined attacks, and somehow managed to grab Fuzzy before throwing him onto the ground below. Fuzzy would have been turned to paste if it wasn't for the intervention for Kratos, who raised rocks to gently grab Fuzzy and soften his fall, allowing him to land safely.

Thank god for Kratos, he may still be too weak to fight on this level, but he is a very good support to the team. I turned my attention back to the fight. Flamel, Toothless, Bigblue, and Kel is holding off altaria and seemed to be able to hold their own for awhile. Bigblue had to leave the role of being the team's defender to Lily, he cannot afford to hold back anymore, Toothless and Flamel need his offensive powers. Lily is trying to defend everyone from the onslaught of attacks from Winona's pokemons. Kratos and Dolly is on support duty, trying to attack if possible, and help save certain members of our team from attacks that would have taken them out. Fuzzy had jumped back into the fray with Snap, its electric attacks would not affect Snap as Snap is a part ground type, and they make a good duo. Rena is dashing around the battlefield trying to launch her attacks at dragonite from below.

The biggest immediate threat to our team is dragonite despite the large drop in its health. He alone prevented us to use moves that can inflict status ailment with Safeguard, a large part of our bread and butter in battles. Altaria is able to use that move as well, but I have to assume that dragonite is more proficient with it since it is the one using it right now. Safeguard had forced us to fight them in a straight forward fight in a contest of strength, which we are not ready for yet. First, we need to reduce dragonite's powers.

"Rena, Power Swap Dragonite, then onto Snap!"

Rena's own raw powers is not something to be underestimated, but even her powers pales in comparison to the raw power that dragonite possessed. In this case, Power Swap would be the best and safest option to take away the powers of dragonite by swapping it with Rena, who will then swap it with Snap, our powerhouse of the team.

Snap roared as the stolen powers surged through his veins while dragonite roared back in rage. They continued to clash. Power Swap may have stole dragonite's powers, but his years of combat experience is still there. Snap, on the other hand, may have increased in power, but may not necessarily have the experience needed to control the large increase in power for delicate and controlled attacks. We need a crude and direct hit onto dragonite. We need Dolly, our best saboteur.

Seeing as Flamel, Toothless, Bigblue, and Kel are able to keep altaria at bay for now. I focused my attention onto Winona's dragonite. I had communicated my plan to Dolly and the other members of the team fighting dragonite through Rena's telepathy. Time to put it into action.

Snap flew to the ground and threw up a cloud of sand to obscure dragonite's vision of us. Seeing as dragonite is high up in the sky while raining attacks down on us and far away from any shadows, Dolly closed the distance between her and dragonite with Phantom Force. She fired a Shadow Ball to dragonite's face to announce her presence and used Screech to throw it off balance. What happened next is a series of moves that were chained one after another that was only achieved after weeks of training.

Dolly used Taunt, to prevent dragonite from using any recovery moves or power boosting moves, followed by a Disable to temporarily prevent dragonite from using Dragon Pulse, an attack it was fond of using against us. She followed up with a barrage of Shadow Balls that dragonite blocked with its arms and dragonite slashed at Dolly with Dragon Claw, only to find itself slashing at an after-image of Dolly that was achieved by a well-timed Double Team. Dolly appeared behind dragonite, and pulled off the last stage of the plan.

Dolly swapped places with Snap with Ally Switch, and dragonite suddenly found a very angry Snap with a fully primed Draco Meteor at its back.

Snap still did not managed to master Draco Meteor to the point of being able to freely control its trajectory, but shooting that mass of energy at dragonite's back only a few feet away? That is doable.

The Draco Meteor, fueled by the stolen power, collided with dragonite and dragonite was sent spiraling into the ground. Fuzzy, Rena and Dolly rained their attacks onto dragonite, not allowing it to have a chance to rest.

"Bard, Haze. Scales, Outrage."

 _You've got be kidding me._

Dragonite went on a rampage, and the entire team have to scatter to avoid the angry dragon on its warpath. Altaria's Haze had reset any power changes, meaning everyone's power levels had reset to what they were before the battle begun, which means that dragonite had returned to its original level of power. Altaria had took to flying higher in the air to use this time to get a power up with Dragon Dance. Oh shit.

"Bigblue, bounce dragonite's attack back! Kel, Dolly, prepare against either of the dragons! Whichever is more convenient! The rest of you, support them!"

Bigblue shot towards dragonite with a Battering Ram, braced the Outrage with an Endure before sending back twice the damage with Counter. Dragonite was send flying backwards while altaria dove down at the same time to try and finish Bigblue off.

Lily's tentacles shot up from within the ground around Bigblue, two of which pulled Bigblue to safety just right before altaria got him. Bigblue used Rest to try and recover lost health, trusting the team to keep him safe in the meantime. The other tentacles fired off an oily Sludge Wave from its end, and altaria dodged the Sludge Wave at the last moment at an almost ninety degree turn, pulling up from the ground without losing speed. A wave of wind blades of Razor Winds rained down from above altaria to try and cut off its escape route. Altaria continued on and simply dodged or batted away the Razor Winds with its huge wings. Dolly stood in its way trying to form a Shadow Ball, and altaria was ready to fire off a Dragon Breath until Dolly used Ally Switch and altaria found a snarling Kel instead, who used Punishment followed by an empowered Play Rough. Kel had copied the effects of altaria's Dragon Dance with a Psych Up, so that Play Rough ought to have hurt. Altaria regained its balance in the air as Kel landed on the ground, and altaria begun to heal its wounds with Roost, only to find it being unable to due to a Taunt Dolly had used while pretending to use a Shadow Ball earlier. Flamel jumped into the air and slammed into altaria with a Flare Blitz, which Snap followed up with a Dragon Rush to push altaria to the ground, who had recovered enough to continue fighting after pulling off Draco Meteor.

We would have succeeded in bringing altaria to the ground if it wasn't for the untimely intervention of dragonite, who had forced everyone to back off by charging in with an Extreme Speed. It punched Kel with a Power-Up Punch, and thankfully Kel had managed to lessen the damage with a wall of rocks by using Stone Edge, and aided by Rena with a wall of Reflect. Lily tried to hold dragonite down to the ground with her tentacles, but was blocked off by dragonite's Fire Punch. Flamel and Toothless worked in tandem to unleash their flames at dragonite, who only flew off into the skies. The two fire types blasted the skies with intense heat, hoping to get one of Winona's pokemon. The two half-dragon half-flying type just weaved effortlessly through their attacks.

Just as I expected and how I wanted it to be. The skies are their domain, I accepted that. But the ground is ours. Time to drop the flying types out of their domain and into ours.

The skies had started to rain with storm clouds forming, Kratos had started on the next stage of our plan with Rain Dance. I was a Naruto fan in my previous life, this attack was inspired from what I remembered in the manga series. Since it's scientifically and theoretically doable, I taught my team on how to do it together in our free time, even though it was supposed to be a joke to "make Fuzzy the strongest pokemon ever". We have never planned to use it ever due to how troublesome it is to set this up, but it seemed like our best option against Winona.

"Nice weather, isn't it?" I said to Winona, catching her attention. I need to buy as much time as possible. "Surprised how fast it took for Rain Dance to take effect? Flamel and Toothless had helped to form clouds with the heat. Do you know what comes next? Word of warning, look UP."

I don't have a Sasuke on my team, and we don't have chakra, BUT.

We have a Fuzzy.

Fuzzy had made its way to the front of my team, who had regrouped, and began to spark erratically.

A Thunder so huge that it can cover both of Winona's pokemon crashed down from the sky as Fuzzy directed the natural lightning onto our foes. The two flying types tried to move out of the way, but were temporarily held in place with Psychic by Rena and Dolly, who are safe behind Lily and Bigblue, who had already woken up. The rest of our team stood behind our team's best defenders as they threw up walls of stone, strengthened by a Protect from Kratos and Kel. Flamel used a Protect on Fuzzy to prevent Fuzzy's small frame from being blown back by the impact of its own attack. I don't need Rena and Dolly to hold Winona's pokemon for long with Psychic, just enough so that they couldn't dodge Fuzzy's attack even if they want to. Winona's pokemon are still under Taunt's effect, and they cannot protect themselves with any defensive moves, the best they can do is to fight back with their offensive moves. But can they fight back a force of nature under Fuzzy's control? I highly doubt it.

The Thunder attack struck both altaria and dragonite and they crashed onto the ground. The battlefield fell into temporary silence as our vision were blocked out with a huge cloud of dust. I'm not going to let up on our attacks. That Thunder may or may not have dealt significant damage to them, but no way are they out of the count yet.

They are pokemons from a gym leader's main team.

"Bigblue, Snap. Land Wave, drag them down."

Our two ground types slammed their feet on the ground, channeling their powers, and the entire arena _liquefied_ with their ground type techniques.

The area of liquefied ground on the sides of the arena rose up like the rising waves of the sea while the area at the middle of the arena caved downwards where altaria and dragonite supposedly are, forming a U-shape bowl, trapping them in as the liquid ground closed itself into a sphere and shrinked its size down towards its prisoners and dragging them into the ground. This is a way larger scale of the quicksand tactic that Snap is so fond of, but we turned the entire ground into liquid mud instead of sand, which is harder to control but also more difficult for foes to get out of due to the viscosity. As long as Winona's pokemon are on the ground, Bigblue and Snap can sense them, and from the looks of it, they are still on the ground somewhere either preparing a counter-attack, or waiting for us to finish them. I still believe the former is more likely to happen.

I heard dragonite's angry roar as it tried to blast through the mud with a condensed Hurricane. The mud simply reformed around whatever the Hurricane had destroyed as it tried to drag both dragonite and altaria down in the depths of the earth and bury them six feet under.

Seeing as there are no other way, Winona's two resident monsters broke through the Land Wave with a Dragon Rush. They received a warm welcome from the rest of my team as my team immediately launched attacks of their own the moment the two flying types broke through, and I watched in delight as altaria found itself having troubles trying to find its balance in the air due to all the mud on its cloud-like feathers. The mud was discreetly filled with the oils of Sludge Wave from Lily, and it will prevent altaria from flying properly by clumping its feathers, something that I had learnt to deal with annoying flying types back at Petalburg gym. Dragonite is spared from this treatment as it had scales instead of feathers, but at least it will help in bringing one of them down.

Snap flew off to engage in an aerial battle with dragonite to force it away from altaria together with Flamel,Toothless, Kratos, and Fuzzy as his support. The rest of us focused on bringing altaria down.

Lily finally decided to rush in with Rock Surf as she led the charge for our remaining members that were running behind her. Altaria tried to gain altitude, but it still had trouble flying properly with all the oil and mud on its wings. Lily simply increased her altitude faster than what altaria could by raising herself with Stone Edge. She finally ensnared altaria with her tentacles and used Smack Down, bringing altaria down onto the ground with her tentacles. Lily's Wring Out caused a lot of pain for altaria as it tried to bathe Lily in flames with Flamethrower, only for Bigblue to intercept and douse the flames with his water attacks. It tried to cut through Lily's tentacles with a Dragon Claw using its talons, only for Kel to use a Me First and stopped altaria in its tracks. Lily held on to her grip on altaria and used Giga Drain to sap its strength. Rena and Dolly tried to get as many attacks as possible onto altaria.

"Bard, get up and use Fly!"

With a ridiculous show of Strength, altaria managed to flap its powerful wings out of Lily's hold and flicked the majority of the mud off its feathers. It proceeded to use Fly even when under attack, trying to fly into the skies while Lily tried very hard to pull it back down with her other tentacles still wrapped around altaria's torso, and anchored herself into the ground with Ingrain. It was then I noticed, we had bought enough time for Safeguard to wear off, and Winona's pokemon cannot use another Safeguard or any other recovery moves with Taunt still active as Dolly and Kel took turns in using it, preventing altaria from recovering. Dragonite is still too far away for Kel and Dolly to use Taunt on it again after Taunt's effect ended on dragonite, but Kratos is there helping Snap and Kratos does know Taunt, even if he is not good in it. Kratos can help to keep Taunt active on dragonite.

"Lily, Toxic!"

Finally.

Altaria screamed in pain from the poison as it faltered momentarily, but continued to try and reach for the skies. Bigblue summoned a huge rock that was at least five times its own size, and send it down onto altaria from above. Altaria blasted it into smithereens with a Dragon Pulse, but the broken pieces of rocks just stopped its fall midair, before turning back and began to pelt on altaria with Bigblue's use of Focus Rock. Dolly cackled as she sent a Hex at altaria that was strengthened by Rena's Helping Hand.

From the other side of the battlefield, dragonite saw the danger that altaria was in and charged recklessly in Lily's direction. Snap attempted to block it with a Protect but dragonite just pushed it away with brute strength and sent Snap falling onto the ground below while Kratos tried to soften Snap's fall. Bigblue charged towards dragonite with Battering Ram and the two titans clashed in a wrestle of physical strength after their collision. Bigblue used Strength to increase his strength and slowly pushed dragonite back, only for dragonite to slip itself from Bigblue's hold, wrapped its thick arms around Bigblue, and carried him into the air.

 _Please don't tell me that's a Sky Drop._

"Snap! Save Bigblue!"

Snap flew after dragonite trying to stop dragonite while firing its ranged attacks. Dragonite merely used Bigblue as a shield that forced Snap to stop his assault. Flamel attempted to get closer with Bounce, but was swatted away with a Dragon Tail. It dodged Toothless's flames with ease as it rose higher and higher into the sky.

Should I attempt to get altaria while it's still in our grasp, our should I focus on saving Bigblue?

Fuck it, I will do both. I have to trust Bigblue on this.

"Lily, maintain your hold on altaria! Snap, get on the ground! Land Wave!"

The ground liquefied once again, altaria is slowly succumbing to its wounds as it tried to get Kel or Dolly, seeing as they are the reason why it cannot use recovery moves. It ignored Lily since she simply healed up from whatever damage altaria dealt to her. Dragonite and Bigblue are a speck in the sky now. I hope Bigblue's ok.

Dragonite sent Bigblue hurtling down like a meteorite as Bigblue tried to use a Protect in front of him as he fell facing the ground. The liquid ground shot up and tried to wrap around Bigblue to cushion his fall, but a blast of draconic flames from dragonite forced Snap to lose his focus as he lost control of Land Wave. Flamel and Toothless retaliated, as Kratos threw rocks at dragonite as a distraction. I focused on Bigblue's descent, and turned to Dolly.

"Dolly, take Bigblue to safety with your shadows."

Similar to how she had transported me in Lavaridge gym, Dolly used the large shadows that were cast by the wave of mud that rose halfway before Snap lost control and covered Bigblue with the shadows. Bigblue emerged beside Dolly, wheezing for air but otherwise safe.

Thank Arceus.

Dragonite dropped down from the sky and attempted to squash Lily with its weight, and Rena pushed dragonite off course with a Psychic, forcing it to land onto the ground and she shot a Dazzling Gleam at it. Dragonite braved the attack, and Flamel charged at dragonite with a Flare Blitz before releasing an Inferno at point-blank range, burning dragonite and inflicting a burn. Dolly took the opportunity to blast dragonite with Hex as it dodged a Dragon Breath from altaria, who is still in Lily's hold. Lily swung altaria and used it as a bat to smack dragonite who had landed too close to her, and dragonite took a few steps back, only to find its right leg sinking and stuck in mud.

Snap roared from the ground as it quickly tried to sink dragonite into the ground once more with Land Wave. Kratos and Toothless summoned a combined but crudely made Rock Tomb to box it in as Bigblue surrounded the area around dragonite with Whirlpool. Kel hides at the back of the team, making sure that Taunt is constantly in effect on both of our captured opponents. Fuzzy sent another Thunder, this time without the aid of nature, to zap dragonite as the water from Whirlpool increased the intensity of the electric attack. Lily is slowly draining the strength of the captured altaria with Dolly's aid in bombarding it with continuous attacks.

We can finally see a glimpse of our victory. All we had to do is to wait it out.

What I didn't expect was for dragonite to willingly sink into the ground and quickly heat it up from underneath with a Heat Wave, hardening the ground around the area, before bursting out of our trap. It punched an unprepared Lily with a Fire Punch, which caused Lily to lose her hold on altaria, and altaria flew off into the skies again. Dragonite proceeded to scatter my entire team with a Brutal Swing using its tail, who had no choice but to dodge out of the way

"Target absol, banette, and the pupitar."

Shit, Winona wants to take out everyone that can use Taunt on my team so that her pokemons can recover.

With a speed faster than any other pokemon I ever saw in my life, dragonite flew towards Dolly, with a Dragon Pulse forming in its opened mouth to blast her into oblivion. Dolly is too far away from my team's protection after the unexpected turnaround from dragonite. I wanted Dolly to get out with Phantom Force, even if I'm unsure if she could make it, until Dolly's eyes suddenly had a determined gleam.

 _Please, Dolly, not that. It is not worth it for a gym battl_ e.

Dolly immediately cut its health with a Curse, bringing her health to less than half of what she had, and dashed into dragonite's Dragon Pulse.

"DOLLY! DON'T BE STUPID! I DIDN'T PERMIT YOU TO USE THAT! GET OUT OF THERE! THAT'S AN ORDER, DAMN IT!"

Dolly either didn't hear me, or chose to ignore me in favour of bringing at least one of Winona's dragons down as she finally linked herself to dragonite with a carefully timed Destiny Bond right before taking the full brunt of dragonite's Dragon Pulse. I didn't wait to see what happened, I know what will follow next the moment Dragon Pulse found Dolly as its target. I recalled Dolly. Destiny Bond is a dangerous move to use in battle. Use it too early before the user is brought down, and it won't have any effect on the target. Use it too late, and the user will be taken out before Destiny Bond can be used. What Dolly did is especially dangerous since she purposely used Curse to bring her health down into dangerously low levels to ensure that she can be taken out in a single hit of dragonite's Dragon Pulse and timed her Destiny Bond to activate right before Dragon Pulse hit, which admittedly takes a lot of skill to pull off.

But what she did was still dangerous. Dolly may have our best interests in mind, but this is not a life-or-death battle. I will not permit her to use it like that again in an official battle, and I will ensure that my orders will be followed through this time. She could have _died_.

Winona recalled her dragonite back to her pokeball as it fell prey to Dolly's Destiny Bond. The escapade that dragonite had performed prevented the continuous usage of Taunt on it and altaria, altaria had taken the opportunity to heal itself with Refresh and Roost high up in the air, as good as new.

I know that we can keep going and bring altaria down, even if it's just another long fight. Altaria is a lot more defenseless without dragonite, and also less powerful in terms of power, but I really don't have the mood to battle anymore after Dolly's unauthorised stupid suicidal stunt. I had told her time and time again to not use such a combo unless it's a life-or-death situation ever since I taught her how to chain Curse and Destiny Bond together. The reason I even taught her something like that was for her to use as a precaution just in case something went FUBAR outside of official battles during our journey and we really need to die trying to take something out of battle. I didn't teach her to use it like _that_.

My team was still raring to go even after Dolly fell, but I really do not have to mood to carry on with the battle anymore. What's the point of collecting gym badges if it is earned by sacrificial suicidal tactics? You are just trading lives for honour. And what use are honours if there are no lives left for it? Living is always better than staying dead, in my opinion. I don't really care if we never completed the gym circuit, even though I really enjoyed it. My dream hasn't changed. I want to travel the world, that's all. I want my team to be alive and well at the end of our travels, and what Dolly did almost killed herself.

I want Dolly alive, not dead.

I punched the forfeit button next to me in the challenger stand and an alarm rang out across the arena, surprising everyone.

"I give, there's no point in this battle anymore, not after Dolly pulled that stunt. I will come back for the challenge another time, sorry for the trouble." I recalled my team back into their pokeballs before they could protest, spun on my heels, and left in the direction of the pokemon center.

* * *

Winona gritted her teeth in frustration and worry as she tried to find Velda. It's been a day after their battle and she still cannot locate her, even if she knew that Velda is in Fortree from the records in the Pokemon Center. Velda is probably evading her, even if Winona does not know how she managed to do it.

She berated herself for thinking it was a good idea to go all out with her main team against an advanced trainer. No matter how skilled Velda is, she's still a 12 year old, still a child, and Winona going all out had probably traumatised her. Her banette had nearly died trying to take down Scales, even if it had succeeded in bringing Scales down. Thankfully, that banette is still alive from what she knew, thanks to the nurses at the pokemon center.

Winona knew about the pain in losing your own pokemon in battle. She had lost Soar and Talon when she was in ACE. It devastated her, and she nearly quit being a trainer.

It simply was a bad idea to go all out against an advanced trainer. She doesn't even normally do that against an Elite trainer. She had seen Velda's previous gym battles from the videos, and she was so excited at Velda's growth as a trainer. She was excited that Velda's growth was so huge that she can unofficially be classified as an Elite trainer in strength. She was excited at facing a real challenge again, something which she had not experienced in a while. She was so excited that she had made the mistake of sending out _both_ Bard and Scales _together_ , even if Velda was allowed to use all of her pokemon. That was simply overkill.

Still, Winona can appreciate the tactics that Velda had came up with during the battle with Bard and Scales. From stealing powers with Power Swap, surfing on the ground with rocks, changing positions with Ally Switch, to using natural lightning to create an overpowered Thunder, creating liquefied ground, usage of Taunts to prevent any use of recovery moves, banette's shadow teleportation on swampert to bring it to safety, and many other things that had been used in their battle. Winona was mind-blown at the creativity and the difficulty of these maneuvers, and she had never seen some of the tactics being employed before. She would never expect a _pachirisu_ of all pokemon to be able to control and direct natural lightning, its species is just not suited for combat at the higher levels of battling.

Flight, the swellow on her main team, flew down and circled around her. She had probably found Velda.

Flight led Winona into a small, isolated clearing on the outskirts of Fortree. Velda was sitting on the ground, back towards Winona while facing a small lake, hugging her banette close to her and her legs tucked halfway towards her chest. Velda rested her chin on banette's head as she sat in silence as the rest of the pokemon huddled around her. They don't seemed surprise by Winona's appearance, and had probably sensed her approach some time back. They made way for her as Winona sat down beside Velda, who gave no indication of knowing of her arrival.

They continued to sit together in silence for a while, until Velda spoke.

"I'm sorry for leaving the battle like that. It was rude of me."

"It was me that have gone overboard, I don't even usually send Bard and Scales in battle against Elite trainers. But I sent them out against you."

Winona brought out a Feather Badge and a Aerial Ace TM, and slid it over to Velda.

"Take it, you have more than earn it. Disregarding your banette's reckless actions in our battle, you have already proved yourself to be more capable than most Elite trainers I know. Not many can push me and my pokemon from my main team to that point. I know you aren't happy with what your banette did, I know how dangerous it was, but you should feel proud of your progress, as well as those of your pokemon. You are only 12, and yet you already possess powers that many trainers are incapable of achieving in their lifetime. I never wish for this to be a setback for you. I'm sorry."

Velda took a look at the spoils of her victory, before pocketing it halfheartedly.

"I can't bring myself to be mad at Dolly, honestly, or at anyone else for that matter. I'm just worried. She just used a combo that I explicitly said to not use unless it's a life-or-death situation." Velda's banette shifted guiltily in her arms. "But you are right. My pokemons did show progress, and it was obvious that their hardwork had paid off. I should be proud of them." Velda continued to gaze at the lake, but a small smile had crept up her face.

Winona inwardly let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that Velda's depressed mood had lifted.

"Seriously though, are all gym leaders crazy strong like you? If that is only two of your pokemon from your main team. I don't want to think how scary your entire main team is. Or the ones of any other gym leader, for that matter. I'm close with Roxanne, but even I can't tell the depth of the power she wielded, only that she is very strong. If everyone is on your level..." Velda ended her sentence while looking at her.

"I'm not the strongest among the gym leaders, that's for sure." Winona admitted. "That honour used to be Juan's, until there was a major change of gym leaders a few years ago. No one is sure now. I lost to Norman once, many years ago before we became gym leaders. But I know he's probably still stronger than me." Winona huffed. "I still can't believe he got married and had a _kid_ , you should have seen him when he was younger."

Velda eyes visibly twinkled, even if Winona don't know how that is possible for a human. Velda leaned in closer excitedly.

"This, I need to hear. He always made fun of me for being the shortest gym trainer in Hoenn, I need some ammunition against him."

Winona grinned, she haven't had a gossip partner for so long, and she missed the gossip session she used to share with her friends before she became gym leader. They had moved on with their lives outside Fortree, and they hardly meet anymore.

"Well, there was one time when Norman was actively pursued as a love interest by many operatives of both genders when we were in ACE. It all started when a female operative gave him a love letter after he saved her during a mission..."

* * *

 **AN: I wanted to write a normal gym battle, until I saw Winona's lineup in the games from Bulbapedia. I tried writing a normal battle until honchkrow's battle, but the moves of the remaining pokemons on her team is very limited and disappointing, and it is hard for me to write an exciting battle based on their limited movepools while Velda's pokemon is overpowered in terms of the range of moves they can use. I also found out that I need to improve on writing detailed battles from a third person's pov, something which I need to take note of in the future. To make this chapter exciting, I decided to try the idea of having a gym leader going all out, even if it's only two pokemons from their main team. I hoped I didn't screw it up, it kind of didn't feel right since I changed my mind on how the original battle was supposed to be halfway.**

 **Anyway, the writing of Bard and Scales have brought me an inspiration of a battle where gym leaders of Hoenn can go all out in the face of crisis. I will see if I can weave it in the original plan for IJWTTTW without starting a war in the pokemon world, seeing how strong I made the gym leaders in IJWTTTW.**

 **Anyway, it's** **Christmas when I post this chapter. SO, here's me wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmeleon (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Larvitar, (Kratos), male**

 **Winona, Age: 30, Female, Fortree City Gym Leader, Ex Ace Operative**

 **1) Altaria (Bard), male**

 **2) Dragonite (Scales), male**

 **3) Swellow (Flight), female**

 **4) ?, Soar, deceased**

 **5) ?, Talon, deceased**

 **6) Swellow**

 **7) Pelipper**

 **8) Honchkrow**


	14. Chapter 14- Unexpected Encounters

"Dolly? Where are you?"

I walked around the twisted caverns of Mt Pyre, trying to find Dolly who had dashed off into the fog that constantly surround the mountain. I knew this is most likely Dolly's birthplace, which was the main reason why I decided to visit it. Still, I never thought that she would be so excited as to dash off into the fog without me the moment we landed at the foot of Mt Pyre after I got off Bigblue's back, who had ferried us to the mountain through the waters.

I turned my head slightly to my right where Bigblue was, and he just gave a shrug. His head fin probably cannot detect ghosts very well, it wasn't built that way. We had walked deep into the heart of Mt Pyre, beyond the 'KEEP OUT' sign that was erected for travelers. Usually I would heed the warnings of the signs, they were put there by the Rangers for a good reason. But Dolly is in there, and she's a part of my team. Even if this is her birthplace, I will not leave her here unless I know for sure that she is absolutely safe.

Where did she go anyway? We had already climbed halfway up the mountain. I'm lucky that Bigblue's proficiency in Rock Surf had allowed us to climb effortlessly up here so far without much trouble. We don't even have to physically climb. Bigblue simply extended a rectangular platform made out of rock on the side of the mountain for the both of us, and use the rock to lift us up like an elevator before we walked further inwards.

I walked deeper into the mountain, following the path as we continued our search for Dolly. I know Dolly will return to us, but how strong are the wild pokemons here? Most of them won't be a match for Dolly, but what if there are extremely strong ones? What if there is another ghost here on Macky's level? Will Dolly be safe then?

Bigblue gave me a gentle nudge, and I turned to look at him, and saw him pointing to another small cave at the side of the cavern. I would have missed it. The entrance was positioned in such a way that you will never see the entrance unless you saw it at the correct angle. Was this man-made? Or was this a work of nature?

I entered the small cave and Bigblue just managed to squeeze himself through it. The entrance was small, but the interior of the cave is huge. The fog circling around the exterior of the mountain had somehow found itself into this particular cave, and I was immediately on guard. The entire cavern was free of the fog, and so far the fog can only be found on the outside of the mountain. So why was this cave so special? Is this home to extremely powerful ghosts? The pinnacle of ghost type pokemons are known to bring ghostly fogs with them.

I was about to release Kel from her pokeball when I heard Dolly's familiar chattering.

"Dolly!"

Dolly appeared out of the wall on my left and hugged my chest. She chattered excitedly, and tried to drag me in a certain direction deeper towards the cave. I was hesitant. Dolly's idea of fun can be very different from the rest of my team, and some of them aren't exactly safe.

"Are you sure it's safe in there, Dolly?"

Dolly nodded her head excitedly, and went on to gesture wildly and flying her loop de loops at high speeds around me before floating behind my back and tried to push me forward in the direction she wanted me to go.

"Alright, alright. I get it. Come on, let's see what you found."

Dolly led us deeper into the cave and I have to recall Bigblue as Dolly led us through the smaller parts of it. There were many other smaller caves along the way that lead to many other places but Dolly seemed to have a particular destination in mind, not stopping to consider where she was going and led me through a series of turns and bends. I had to release Toothless out halfway as the light is too dim to allow me to see properly and I need the light from his tail-flame. The fog is not present at this section of the mountain, and I realised that we had somehow climbed higher up the mountain while Dolly led us.

Dolly led us to another small cave opening and me and Toothless entered with her. It is another cavern. Not as huge as where I had reunited with Dolly, but a lot more spacious than the usual ones we saw during our short time on Mt Pyre. It is still pretty dark here and I could only see the area in my immediate vicinity with the help of the light from Toothless's tail-flame. Toothless seemed a little agitated and restless, something is unsettling him. Dolly seems unaffected though. Why?

Dolly pulled on the sleeve of my shirt and I followed as she led me a few steps forward to a large wall of rock that was erected in the middle of the cavern. Definitely man-made. She pointed up on the wall of rock as if she wanted to show me something. I couldn't see clearly, so I asked Toothless to increase the brightness of his tail-flame and I saw what Dolly was trying to show me.

Legendaries.

The drawings of Groudon and Kyogre, to be specific. There's no mistaking it. The drawings are more like ancient murals than any form of art that I had seen, and it was definitely drawn a long time ago, maybe even before the warring states era. There are very little records in this world on how legendaries actually looked like, especially the truly powerful ones. Some have been sighted in recent years, but there were no photos of it since they always appeared briefly before disappearing. Most of the time, we only have written descriptions of how they looked like in this world and even then no one even knows if they are actually accurate. We only know that they existed, psychic type pokemons all around the world have confirmed their existence to their trainers when asked, even if they themselves do not know anything else about the legendaries. I would know how legendaries looked like. I have played the games of the pokemon franchise in my previous life, even if I only played up to pokemon platinum, but I would know how the legendaries of the newer versions of pokemon games will look like until my untimely demise. The first thing any pokemon fans will do after a new generation of pokemon game is released is to check how the legendaries and regional starters of that version will look like. I know a legendary when I see one, especially if it belongs to a version which I have played the game before.

This mural is a drawing depicting the fight of Groudon and Kyogre, there's no doubt about that.

The increased light also brought my attention to two stone orbs lying on the base of the mural, each supported by a small rock shaped like some sort of altar. Dolly cleared the dust off the stone orbs with a very weak Ominous Wind. Two orbs, one ruby red, another sapphire blue, appeared before me, glistening under the light of Toothless's tail-flame. I hesitantly reached out my right hand towards the red orb, and it felt as if something is drawing me towards it, like I couldn't control my actions. I was only half aware of what was going on around me. It was only when I realised that I have started to bend down to try to touch it that I forcefully pulled myself back to reality and I pinched myself to clear my clouded thoughts.

What the hell was that? Was that a form of mind-control?

I shook my head and stared back at the two orbs. These orbs are definitely not normal. They seemed familiar, was it important to the story in pokemon emerald? Or was I overthinking things? Was I forgetting something?

A raspy voice sounded throughout the cavern.

"I wouldn't touch those if I were you."

I spun around, trying to find who was talking to me. Toothless stood protectively in front of me, growling softly. Someone had managed to got past our senses and sneaked up to us unnoticed. I'm not the strongest trainer around, but my pokemons do have good senses. Also, no trainer sneaks up on another trainer, Elite trainer or not, unless they have ulterior motives. It is just polite manners to announce your arrival before you enter the personal space of another trainer when you are on the road. Pokemons under the command of their trainers can be extremely protective of them, and wouldn't hesitate to tear anything they deemed as a threat to their trainers into shreds. Pokemons have a different set of morals and values than humans, and most of them tend to act first, then question later. If you see another trainer that hasn't notice your presence and you are about to enter into his personal space, announcing your arrival is pure common sense and a necessary etiquette.

A slow clacking sound of wood against the stone floor of the cavern rang out and the fog started to seep into the cavern. This trainer was the one that managed to bring the fog into the caverns? Just how strong is her ghost? Or ghosts? A Ghost Specialist, perhaps?

I'm not leaving the safety of my team to chance and I was about to release my entire team, even if I have to bring down the entire cavern on us to ensure our escape when Dolly quickly stopped me and gestured wildly.

"Relax, child. An old hag like me would have no motivation to harm you. I just want to see the trainer of the banette that has intrigued me so. It's very well-trained for a ghost so young."

I could see the form of an elderly woman in the fog. She wasn't very tall, her height probably shrunk due to her old age. She held a wooden walking cane in her right hand, which was the first object to emerge from the fog, followed by her wrinkled right hand which was holding the cane. The elderly woman emerged through the fog and I finally saw who she was.

Agatha. The elderly woman standing about ten feet away from me is the ex member of Indigo's Elite Four, and a Ghost Master recognised by the PWL.

My mouth opened and closed in shock as I tried to form words. Agatha is a legend in the pokemon world, especially when she was in her prime as she decimated her foes with her ghosts. She was nigh unbeatable until Lance came and even then it was a very close battle. She is someone that trainers all around the world will respect, simply because she is so strong.

"M-My name is Velda Vera. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Agatha."

I gave a ninety degree bow and held it there for a short while before rising back up again. She deserves the highest form of respect simply for being able to tame ghosts, something not many trainers in the history of PWL were able to do.

Agatha cackled and gave a simple wave of her hand.

"Finally, a youngling that knows how to respect her elders. Children these days..." She shook her head before continuing. "You are of the Vera family? Maybe that would explain how you managed to tame a ghost at such a young age. It still has a long way to go to reach the pinnacle of its powers, but this ghost hasn't been in your possession for very long, has it? How long have you trained this banette?"

"Just slightly more than a year. About one year and two months? I didn't tame Dolly, by the way. Dolly was pretty tame to begin with when I first met her as a shuppet, she just needs companionship. All I did was to befriend her before she decided to join me on my journey. I met her on Dewford, which is kind of weird since shuppets don't live there. I think she was a case of pokemon abandonment, but I don't know for sure."

"A wild ghost with mild temperament?" Agatha voice rose a little higher towards the end. "Not impossible, but those cases are rare. Ghosts in the wild are vicious until you beat them black and blue, and even then they won't stop trying to get at you. You are very lucky, child."

I nodded. "I know. She has been a very good friend to me."

Agatha coughed a few times as she tried to straightened her breathing. Was she sick?

"Do you know what these are?" Agatha gestured to the mural with her head, waiting for my answer.

"Groudon, and Kyogre. Groudon is said to have the ability to raise lands and expand continents, bringing droughts with him and saving people of the past from floods. It is the personification of land itself. Kyogre is the opposite. It is said to live in the depths of the ocean and have the ability to expand oceans, bringing torrential rains and saved people from droughts. It is the personification of the sea. They are supposedly arch-enemies, and have clashed many times in the distant past. Their fights created the landmass and bodies of water that resulted into the various continents as what we know now. No one knows why they fought and why they stopped fighting." I took a pause and looked at Agatha. "But why is something like this on Mt Pyre?"

Agatha gave a shrug. "Beats me. I just got here a few days ago myself. Thought I should drop by Hoenn after enjoying myself in Orre. Mt Pyre is home to many ghosts in Hoenn, so naturally I came here for some sight-seeing." I can't help but opened my mouth slightly in shock. The rumours were true? She really went to _Orre_ for a _holiday_? "Willy found this mural so I came here to have a look. Still trying to figure out what these two orbs are. No clue as of now. I need to go back to Kanto soon though, so I think I will leave it here as it is. The orbs obviously aren't normal, and probably related to the two legendaries you see on the mural. But they have been sleeping here for Arceus-knows-how-long and nothing bad has happened, so it's best to leave it be." Agatha coughed again before continuing. "I don't trust anyone else to know of its existence, you can help an old hag keep a secret, right?"

I nodded. I have a nagging feeling that these orbs are very important. It could be something that I knew in my previous life that I had forgotten or it could be simply my sixth sense. The only thing I'm sure of is that these orbs should be left alone, no matter what.

Agatha gave a sigh. "Thank you, child. Say, do you mind if you indulge this old hag in a battle with your banette? It's been kind of dull on Mt Pyre."

 _What?_

Me? Fighting against Agatha? The Agatha of Indigo's Elite Four? The Ghost Master? Even if she is in retirement now?

Agatha laughed. "Don't worry, child. I just want to see the true extent of your banette's capabilities. A battle is the best way to do so. Not many trainers choose to raise a banette, so I'm merely interested to see exactly how well you have raised it. Banettes aren't the strongest of ghosts when it comes to raw power, but then again a ghost's specialty doesn't lie in its raw power. Something not many trainers realised. You obviously realised this. Tell me, what do you think is a ghost's best weapon?"

"Trickery." I replied immediately, the words came out of my mind before I can think. "Or deceit. I don't know much about other ghosts other than Dolly or my brother's gengar, but they excel in tricking their opponents and they tend to do unexpected things. Dolly is an excellent saboteur, and she had helped my team won many battles simply by foiling enemies' plans or sowing confusion in battle. She helped took down a pokemon from a gym leader's main team, even if I don't agree with her methods." I paused while petting Dolly's head. "But the fact is that she took down a pokemon that none of the other pokemons on my team can, simply by being a tricky opponent to face."

Agatha gave a grin. "Excellent answer! You just told me something that many trainers never bothered to find out in their entire training career simply because they have irrational fear of ghosts. Bah! Cowards! The whole lot of them! I don't know why you ended up fighting a pokemon from a gym leader's main team at your age, but I don't really care." She had another coughing fit before continuing to speak. "Have you ever considered being a Ghost Specialist?"

"I-I never thought about specialising in anything." I admitted. "So I guess I'm going to be a Generalist."

"Ah, a pity then. Ghosts seemed to have a natural liking for you. Such a waste."

As if acting on an unspoken signal, the shadows in the cavern moved, and I saw ghosts of many shapes, sizes, and species rising out of whatever shadows the cavern had produced, looking at us from afar. They were here the entire time?

"They are all wild, just to be clear. I initially thought that I was the one they were attracted to seeing I deal with their kind my whole life, until you came along and I realised their attention was on you. It's like they are waiting for you to arrive here. I've never seen someone like you before, someone who is actually liked, no, _loved_ by ghosts. It's just not in their nature. But that's also why you are naturally suited to be a Ghost Specialist, it will be easier for you to tame them. However, you are still young, so take your time to think on what kind of trainer you want to be." She tapped her cane onto her ground. "Come on now, child. Follow me, you did promised to indulge this old hag in a battle." Agatha cackled before turning around to walk back to where she came from, and I had no idea on what to do other than to follow her although some of Agatha's words kept repeating itself in my head.

 _Ghosts loved me? Why?_

* * *

Our battle turned out to be more of a coaching session from Agatha. She found out about my reactions to Dolly's use of Destiny Bond on Winona's dragonite, and bonked me hard on the head with her cane.

"What your banette did isn't wrong, child, although I can understand where you are coming from. What your banette did was definitely dangerous, but the dangerous part is just the Curse part, since the damage was self-inflicted. Destiny Bond was perfectly safe to use for your banette's case." She took a deep breath before rubbing her temple with her free hand. "Can't blame you though. Here's a quick question, how does a ghost die?"

"Uh... they sustain serious damage? And their health dropped to critically low levels...? Come to think about it, I don't think I ever read about how ghosts die. Do they leave a corpse after they passed on? Or do they just disappear?"

Agatha briefly pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand as she closed her eyes. "That's the problem with the world nowadays. There's too little knowledge known to the public about ghost types, and trainers ended up doing stupid things with their ghosts simply because they are ignorant." She sat down on a nearby rock and continued to speak. "Ghosts do die, but only if they sustain heavy damage from ghost or dark type techniques since such techniques are naturally effective on ghosts. That dragonite's Dragon Pulse will have caused your banette to temporary dissipate and left it without a body, looking as if it died, but it will reform its body gradually after some time. The stronger the ghost, the shorter time they need to reform. If that Dragon Pulse was a Dark Pulse, then you will really need to worry about your banette truly dying to such a powerful attack. From what I know, Curse has a similar effect as being inflicted by a ghost or dark type techniques on the ghost using it, so it is also too dangerous for them to use it when they are on low health. Destiny Bond merely lets the user and target share the same fate, so if your banette dies, so does the dragonite. If your banette faints, then the dragonite faints as well. If you cannot remember or understand what I've said so far, just remember this: so long as your banette isn't stupid enough to use Curse while it's on low health and it doesn't receive an absurdly strong ghost or dark type attacks, your banette will live an immortal life."

I listened to all these intently, not everyone has the chance to be personally taught by a Ghost Master, even if it's just for an hour.

"Let me give you a live demonstration. NILLY!"

A gengar rose up from Agatha's shadow, and floated about 30 feet away from us and high into the air.

"Watch carefully, child. Nilly, Explosion!"

I watched in shock as Nilly exploded and tore itself into pieces, vaporising into purple miasma. However, about two seconds later, the miasma congregated together as Nilly reformed its body, cackling loudly. Another gengar appeared beside Nilly, and exploded in an Explosion as well, before quickly reforming its body. The two gengars then began to take turns exploding while cackling. They were having _fun_.

I have no idea how blowing yourself up is fun. But then again, they are gengars.

"That other gengar is called Willy. Together they are Willy-Nilly. I don't know why they liked their names, it was supposed to be a joke. But do you see now? The way my gengars used Explosion would have killed any other pokemon capable of using that same move. Not for the gengar species, or any other ghosts. It might take years, months, weeks, or days for them to reform after using Explosion, but they will reform their bodies one day. They won't die from this move. Why? Because Explosion is a normal type move, it is not naturally effective on ghosts. So don't worry about ordering your banette to use Destiny Bond if the conditions are right. In fact, she might even enjoy using it. That's just how ghosts are."

"Dolly might even enjoy using Destiny Bond? That doesn't make any sense."

"Another thing for you to note then. Maybe it's because the only ghosts you've met so far are very tame creatures and that's why you do not know how vicious ghosts truly are. Once they start fighting they will stop at nothing to bring their enemies down. _Nothing_. If their opponents are too strong, they will simply bring their foes down with them even at the cost of their lives. The reasons the death rate of young ghosts is so high is because they tend to fight each other instead of pokemons of other typings, so they ended up killing their own species who can deal proper damage to each other. No matter how tame ghosts appear to be they will always have that viciousness, it's just a matter of how well they can control and hide it. What your banette did is to follow its instincts and unleashed its true nature to bring down its foes even at the cost of its own life. Can you blame your banette for doing things that it is naturally programmed to do? Can you stop it? No, you can't. Nobody can, even me."

Agatha gave me another bonk on my head with her cane. "So get your mind out of that stupid gutter called 'ignorance'. If I were you, I will start on making strategies on how to use Destiny Bond to its full potential. It's a waste not to use such a powerful move, especially when your banette has already perfected it." She stood up to stretch and I could audibly hear the popping sound of her bones. "It's late. Come on, I will let you stay in my hut for a night, then I expect you to be gone after breakfast tomorrow."

* * *

This is the best.

I closed my eyes and laid down on the sun chair on Lilycove's beach under the shade of a beach umbrella as I felt the sea breeze caressing my skin. It's been a long time since I've been on a beach. The last time I did was at Slateport with Vance, almost a year ago.

I continued to laze around on the sun chair with Rena, who had curled up beside me on my right and dozed off. I wore a two piece light blue bikini that I had bought from the Lilycove Department Store. The top showed a decent bit of cleavage of my chest, which have suddenly started to grow rapidly ever since I resumed my journey three months ago. It was a little annoying since I have to frequently change my bra to adjust to the sudden increase in size. I hope that it won't grow into the size of melons, those are too heavy. At least now I know my bust size in this life won't be the size of peas. I always wanted a decent bust size, just because I'm vain and superficial like that. My bust size in my previous life was just perfect, in my opinion. Nothing too big, but not small either. People always said that appearances doesn't matter. Bullshit. Appearances does matter at least to a certain extent. Why else would commercial advertisements advertise products by using beautiful women and handsome men to help advertise their products? Also, it's good to finally start growing into a body of an adult. It was nice being a child again, but I missed the feeling of being in an adult's body. Right now my chest size is big for a 12 year old, and I've no problem showing it off proudly in a bikini. What? Don't look at me like that, I'm an adult in a child's body, remember? What else do you want me to wear to the beach? A kiddie swimsuit with hello kitties? No way.

I just hoped that Mum won't find out about me wearing a two piece bikini on the beach. She's a little conservative when it comes to clothing.

I cracked open my eyes as I spotted Fuzzy and Kratos trying to build a massive sandcastle on the very far end of the beach, the size of both pokemons a little speck from where I was due to the distance between us. Bigblue had taken to the sea for a swim with Snap flying overhead as they went to explore the sea route of Route 124 together. Flamel and Kel had decided to go for a run towards the north end of the beach, where it is vacant and empty of people. The north end of the beach is a long, straight stretch of sand that is suitable for the both of them to run. Toothless and Lily had decided to go climb the cliff at the northern side of the beach as well, although I have no idea how Toothless is going to climb with his claws and feet. Dolly had initially tried to bring me to a large rock sticking out of the sea that was situated at the very northern end of the beach and gestured wildly, but I really don't see anything exciting about that rock. It was big, and a short swim away from the sands of the beach, but other than that I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Dolly went exploring by diving into the shadows to who-knows-where after that. Rena hates the sand getting into her fur, and detest getting wet even more, so she decided to laze around on the sun chair with me. There were no one around us, I purposely chose a spot that was far away from the public crowd since people can get very wary of the fully evolved members on my team and they take up a lot of space. I don't want to cause a mayhem, so I chose an isolated spot on Lilycove's beach for us.

I had decided to give us a week long vacation at Lilycove before heading for Mossdeep, as a reward for my pokemon's performance at the Fortree gym. I also apologised and made up to Dolly for my ignorance, but still forbade her to use the Curse and Destiny Bond combo since things could easily screw up with Curse. I had earned quite a bit of money from my time as a gym trainer and from the prize money earned in our battles while travelling to Lilycove, so we can indulge ourselves for a bit. It is our second day here, and I'm already fully enjoying myself.

I was about to doze off myself until I heard the shuffling of footsteps on my left that got nearer towards my location. I opened my left eye this time around, and saw two teenage boys, about 15 years old, in their beachwear. The red haired one had a mohawk hair style while the black haired one had a more spiky and angular cut. Their entire appearance and demeanor were practically announcing themselves to the world as 'punks'. To my amusement, they took a seat in the sun chair next to mine, leaned in closer to me, and started talking.

"Hey babe, you look so hot, I have to freeze myself in Shoal Cave just to even manage to look at you without melting down."

What?! Oh my- HAHAHA! Was that mohawk guy flirting at me? Was that a pick-up line? He's seriously flirting with a 12 year old?!

I bit the inside of my cheeks as I tried very hard not to laugh. Oh God! I really hoped that he used such a bad pick-up line for joking purposes, and not because he really thought that it was good. He looked so serious in saying it too!

The black haired one then started to speak. "Are you a psychic? Cos I'm starting to feel a connection with you."

I cannot help but to sit up and burst out laughing at their ridiculous pick-up lines. HAHAHAHA! PLEASE tell me that they are doing this on purpose!

I continued to bend down in laughter as I glanced at the two boys. The two punkish boys looked a bit confused at why I was laughing at their pick-up lines. Shit, they were actually serious? They thought it was good? Oh kami-sama, HAHAHA!

The mohawk one suddenly shifted over and sat on my sun chair next to me, and draped his right arm over my shoulders as he pulled me closer to him. Ok, this suddenly got very uncomfortable. His dangling right hand is very uncomfortably close to my right breast.

"Hey cutie, you like maths? Because I want to add you to my life, subtract your clothes, divide your legs..."

The conversation suddenly turned into a very lewd one. The worst part? The two of them looked absolutely serious, like ' _trying to get into my pants_ ' kind of serious. I'm only physically twelve! No way am I entertaining the idea of sex! I didn't even had one in my previous life! And I definitely do not want a threesome!

I got a little scared at how they began to leer at me like a piece of fresh meat. I politely declined and tried to push the mohawk guy's arm away from my shoulder.

Only for his right hand to squeeze my right breast tightly.

I screamed, and they suddenly tried to pin me down on my sun chair, holding my arms up and trying to pull my legs apart from each other.

The next thing I knew, I was suddenly able to move again as the pressure I felt from the bodies of the two would-be rapists disappeared. I sat up as I tried to catch my breath and saw Rena standing between me and those two scums, who were blasted by her psychic powers and landed at least 15 meters away. They probably didn't see Rena when they approached me, she was beside me on the other side and hidden from sight under my towel, saying that it was too bright to fall asleep.

Rena growled angrily as the air visibly distorted around her, her hairs standing on ends. I could hear the humming of her psychic powers. Rena was mad. _Very_ mad. She had been very protective of me ever since she evolved, a trait seen in her species. Espeons are known to be fiercely loyal to their trainers, and the older generations had always said that they develop their precognitive powers in the first place to protect its trainers from harm. I almost got myself hurt by those scums. Rena would have killed them, but she knew I didn't like to see death and blood after knowing how I died in my previous life. The images of getting crushed and seeing my own blood leaving my body in huge amounts were still a common sight in my nightmares even if I rarely dream of it now. Seeing death was a painful reminder of what I once experienced shortly before the end of my previous life. I didn't like it, and I don't think I will ever get used to it.

I adjusted my bikini, which was almost torn off by the two scums in their attempt to rape me. Luckily, they held, and still covered the important parts of my body. I knew that a journey to travel the world will never be totally safe, but I wasn't expecting to almost get raped on a beach in public. It was the reason why I became a trainer. I wanted to understand more about pokemon, have my own team of them, and travel together while being strong enough to travel safely. I guess this is a good wake-up call for me as well. I should not have let down my guard as much as I did when those two punks approached me. I definitely should not have allowed the mohawk guy to sling his arm over my shoulders. I only got groped this time. It was humiliating, but not anything life-threatening. But it also could have been a lot worse. I won't let anyone get the drop on me like that again. I swear it.

The two punks had recovered and picked themselves up from the ground. They pulled out pokeballs of their own from their pockets. These lousy excuses of a human being are trainers?

They failed to release the pokemons out of their pokeballs as Rena launched the pokeballs out of their hands and far away from them with Psychic. A huge cloud of sand kicked up around them as an angry roar can be heard from the sky.

Snap had returned from his flight.

Snap landed furiously in front of them and roared angrily. They backed off only to find Dolly behind them, who is emitting angry waves of ghostly energy from her body, her usual cheerful personality gone. During this entire time, Fuzzy and Kratos had also reached us, and they surrounded those scums together with Snap and Dolly. The two scums tried to put a brave front at the sight of my pokemons, they probably didn't expect me to be a trainer, much less a trainer with so many trained pokemons.

 _'Mistress? Are you alright? Are you hurt? The others are on their way back. I've contacted them with telepathy. Bigblue should be arriving anytime soon. The rest are still a little far away, but would not take too long to reach our location.'_

 _'I'm a little shaken, but not hurt. I'm fine, Rena. Thank you for saving me. If it wasn't for you, they would have...'_

 _'No need to say anymore, Mistress. Do you want us to kill them for you? They hurt you. We want them to pay. We can kill them behind the rocks if you do not want to see blood.'_

 _'They will pay, just not in death. Knock them unconscious but don't hurt them. They will pay with the time they spend in jail.'_

 _'It's too light a punishment. All you have to do is to give the order, Mistress. We will make sure it won't be traced back to you, if that is what you are worried about. I know humans have laws regarding killing each other, but -'_

 _'Enough, Rena. No killing. I won't allow you guys to kill unless I give permission, which won't happen. That's an order. Make sure that the others know it too. Just knock those two unconscious.'_

Rena remained silent for a short moment before giving a pulse of Psychic. Those two scums dropped down onto the sands, still alive and breathing, but unconscious. I looked to the rest of my pokemon.

"Find and confiscate all their pokeballs, I don't want them to come out and give us anymore trouble. We are turning these scums in to the LSDF."

* * *

"We'll make sure that they will serve their rightful punishment, Ms Vera. On a side note, are you sure you are alright?"

"I'm fine, Officer Haley. My pokemon protected me. I'm fine, really."

The officer-in-charge of my attempted rape case, a female LSDF officer called Officer Haley, stared at me briefly before closing the file that documented my testimony. They had authorised the use of their own psychic pokemon stationed in the Lilycove LSDF office to read the minds of those scums in order to validate what I told the LSDF. Once they had confirmation, those two scums were locked up, their pokeballs and Pokedex confiscated, and will be shipped to Dewford first thing tomorrow to face their trial, and then locked behind bars in Dewford's prison once convicted of their crimes.

It was already dinnertime when I walked out of the Lilycove LSDF office. That unpleasant incident had spoiled my mood for the entire day. I ate a quick dinner with my team and decided to take an evening stroll throughout the city with Rena by my side and Fuzzy on my shoulders. I would have let Kel out too, but she probably won't be too well-received among the ignorant locals given the reputation of her species.

I walked past the Contest Hall of Lilycove and saw that there was a pokemon contest being held tonight. It starts in half an hour. Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I purchased a ticket and walked in to find my seat.

Maybe my mood would be a lot better after watching the performances.

* * *

I walked out of the Contest Hall as I tried to process how on earth Wallace managed to put up such a spectacular performance simply by showing the different possible usages of Water Pulse with his luvdisc.

Yes, _Wallace_. The Hoenn Champion actually made his way down to Lilycove to participate in a pokemon contest. From what I could tell from the shocked faces of the organisers, they weren't expecting him either. Wallace just appeared out of the blue unannounced. His performance together with his luvdisc was so breath-taking that the other performances weren't even worth mentioning. That's how good he was. A powerful trainer, and an outstanding coordinator, that's who Wallace is. It's no secret to the world that Wallace is a pokemon coordinator as well, although he hasn't been participating in pokemon contests ever since he became Champion. Maybe he managed to finally have some free time after finding a successor in Steven Stone?

I walked around Lilycove absently, the night is still young and I don't want to go back to the pokemon center to rest for the night just yet. I spotted a lighthouse facing the sea not far from the Contest Hall, it looked like a good spot to relax together with my pokemon.

I let my pokemon out as I sat on the edge of the cliff where the lighthouse is situated as we enjoyed the sea breeze. I was about to lie on my back to stargaze until I heard someone called my name.

"Velda?"

I turned around, and I saw Winona about 20 meters behind where I was and walking towards me. She dressed casually with only a white long-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans, different to how she usually looked with her flying suit.

"Winona? Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

Winona gave a huff and smacked me playfully on my shoulder before taking a seat next to me on my right. "Just because I'm Fortree's gym leader doesn't mean that I have to be at Fortree round the clock. I can travel all around Hoenn in my free time, you know. But to answer your question, I was watching my boyfriend's performance at the Contest Hall. The performance just ended and I usually wait for him here after the performances. I'm surprised to see you still here at Lilycove, most trainers will just travel to Mossdeep straight away."

"My team and I are on a vacation. Besides, Lilycove is a nice place to relax. I really love the beach here. The only time I ever enjoyed myself on a beach was at Slateport with my brother, and that was almost a year ago."

"Hmm... I see."

"I was at the Contest Hall too, actually. Which of the contestants is your boyfriend?"

Winona looked a little surprised at the fact that I was also spectating the same pokemon contest as her. But she quickly schooled her features back to normal before giving me a mischievous smirk.

"Take a guess."

"There are at least ten male contestants out there, Winona." I half-whined, half-complained.

"The most number of guesses you will need to make is ten guesses."

"Aww, come on-"

"Winona? Who's that young lady beside you?"

I turned back around once more to see who had interrupted my conversation with Winona, only to experience another shock. What's with my luck in meeting famous people recently? First Agatha, and now _him_?

My jaws dropped, and I looked at Winona who is now giving me a full-blown grin. I looked back to the source of my shock, who had picked up on the situation and gave me a small smile as well.

I looked back at Winona.

" _Wallace_? _The_ Wallace is _your_ boyfriend? What? How? WHEN? How did NO ONE knew about this?" I briefly grabbed the sides of my head with both hands as I tried to process what I just saw, and then wrapped both my arms around Winona's left arm. "You are so telling me all about how you two met."

Winona and Wallace both laughed at my reaction. Wallace had walked up to stand beside Winona with his luvdisc floating beside him, under the wary gaze of my pokemon. They were still a little wound up from the unpleasant experience earlier this afternoon and they only let Winona near me because they had known her back at Fortree where we had spent some time with each other. I sent a mental command to Rena with the help of her telepathy to tell my team to stand down. This is Wallace we are talking about. Even disregarding his Champion title, if Winona trusted him enough to let him be her boyfriend, I can put my trust in him too.

"We both met when I first joined ACE. I wasn't a gym leader yet and he wasn't Hoenn's Champion either at that time. Wallace was preparing to take part in his first Ever Grande Conference when I met him. He chose to enlist himself in ACE first to have more time in preparing for it. We only knew each other for a short while at that time, but one thing led to another and we got ourselves into a relationship. He's one of the reasons why I chose to become a gym leader. He inspired me."

Wallace gave a gentle smile at Winona. "I didn't do much, and you are a natural leader. You never flaunt your strength, but use it to help others that needed it. I like that part about you." Winona looked at her own feet with a small blush on her face, probably feeling awkward that Wallace was saying mushy words with me around. I wished that I could have a camera and capture this moment. A blushing Winona is actually pretty cute.

Wallace turned his attention back onto me and my pokemon. "You must be Velda. I recognise these pokemons from the video Winona showed me about the battle between the both of you. You did a splendid job in managing to push her as far as you did. Have you considered joining ACE? Your brother flourished in there, I'm sure you will as well, if you decide to join."

"You know my brother? Oh right, what am I saying. Vance is your second-in-command, isn't he? I still find it hard to believe, to be honest. He falls into all sorts of trouble at home and keep doing stupid things, very different from what I expect from someone in his position. Personally, I don't think I will join ACE, my body's condition won't allow it even if I wanted to. I don't even think my body's condition is suited to join any of the Hoenn League's forces." I paused. Have I told Winona about my body's condition? "I probably will help my parents run the farm when I finish my travels around the world, and then most likely take over the family's business when they retire. My brother is an expert on pokemon breeding as well, but he prefers to battle. That leaves me as the only candidate to take over the farm. It is a pretty fun job actually, if you really do love pokemons."

"A very nice dream to have, Ms Vera. Although I find it a pity that a trainer as talented as yourself not wanting to join the Hoenn League's forces. Your strength will be invaluable to any of them."

"Call me Velda, can I address you as Wallace?"

"You are more than welcome to address me as such, Velda."

"I swear, the both of you are way too formal around each other. Lighten up!" Winona wrapped both her arms around me and Wallance, her right arm around my left, and dragged Wallace with her left arm. She dragged us down the stairs by the cliff that leads to the beach below. "Come on Wallace, you said that you were interested in battling Velda and her swampert. Now's your chance."

I choked on air as Winona said those words. Taking on the _Hoenn Champion_ with Bigblue? That's suicide!

My pokemon followed us down to the beach to where Winona led us. Seeing as there was no way Winona will let me get out of this, I readied myself for a battle with Bigblue as I stood opposite Wallace a far distance away. Lily raised a makeshift rectangular arena made of rocks with her rock techniques for our impromptu battle. It was so well made that it looked no different from a normal arena if you ignore the colour scheme.

Wallace whistled at the sight. "That's impressive. I only saw such precise applications of rock techniques from Roxanne before."

"Roxanne was a great help in helping me figure out how to invent different usages of rock type techniques. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her."

Wallace said nothing else as he released a large milotic out into the battle. His milotic is beautiful, but more than that, it is strong. I can feel the pressure of its strength even from where I was standing.

"You have the first move, Velda."

"Bigblue, Sludge Wave."

I wasted no time in attacking. I had needed my whole team to bring down Winona's dragonite. There's no way for me to bring down Wallace's milotic with only Bigblue. I ran through my options quickly in my mind. The milotic species are known for having recovery moves like Refresh and Recover in its arsenal, so bringing it down by inflicting status ailment is out of the question. Overwhelming it with sheer power is akin to suicide since this is Wallace's milotic we are talking about. We have to play it smart if we even want to have a fighting chance against him. The only thing we can do now is to change the battlefield into our advantage.

Bigblue's Sludge Wave only served as a minor inconvenience as milotic blocked it off by spraying a curtain of water from its mouth.

"Bigblue, Muddy Water! Then Earth Power!"

Bigblue bellowed as he unleashed the mud-filled water out of his mouth towards milotic. He knew I wasn't aiming to damage milotic with Earth Power, but rather to loosened the ground around it for one of his favourite combo. Milotic merely stood there waiting and redirected the Muddy Water to go around her with a flick of its tail, leaving a sphere around her devoid of any water when Bigblue's Muddy Water crashed down.

"Whirlpool!"

The Whirlpool mixed up the mud, rocks, sand, and water all around milotic as it guarded itself from the Whirlpool with a Light Screen. I'm not concerned with that, the aim of Whirlpool is not milotic, but to turn the entire area around her into a swamp, which we did. Bigblue is not fast on land, he is way faster in water, but he is a speed demon when it comes to moving in a muddy swamp.

Milotic barely had time to react when Bigblue suddenly assault it with a Battering Ram. The speed of the Battering Ram was aided by Bigblue's ability to move quickly in swamps. I had decided that the best way for us to fight milotic now would be to engage it in close quarters. Milotics are not known for their ability to fight effectively up close. Bigblue threw Mega Punchs at milotic, hoping to nail it at least once as milotic curled and shifted itself out of harm's way.

Bigblue finally managed to get a Mega Punch onto milotic just as milotic blasted him away with a Water Pulse. Thankfully, Bigblue wasn't inflicted with the confused status that sometimes come with the damage of Water Pulse. Bigblue tried to get close again, only for milotic to blast jets of water at him to force him to back off, managing to push Bigblue off with the strength of the blast even when Bigblue used Battering Ram or Protect. Bigblue tried to raise rocks to trap milotic, only for milotic to demolish them with a single swing of its tail using Brutal Swing every time Bigblue tried to summon rocks. Seeing no other viable options, Bigblue shot Mud Shots at it, forcing milotic to block its attacks. I'm glad to see that milotic had trouble moving freely in the swamp and was forced to block rather than dodge Bigblue's attacks. This gives us a fighting chance, even if it's just a little.

Wait a second, when did milotic's wounds healed itself?

I was watching the entire battle carefully the entire time and not once did milotic used Recover. So how did it heal up from Bigblue's Mega Punch? It left a pretty huge bruise when it first struck. It's gone now. What other recovery moves can the milotic species learn?

I watched milotic carefully as it continued to exchange a series of blows with Bigblue with blasts of water while Bigblue shot mud at it. It was then I saw, the area around milotic was slightly distorted, in a sphere-like manner with milotic in its center. I looked on closer and I realised that milotic actually raised a thin veil of water around itself, but it was so thin that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. I would have missed it if the moonlight didn't reflect off the water veil, which I only caught on by accident.

Aqua Ring. Milotic has to be using Aqua Ring. A near-invisible thin veil of Aqua Ring that acts as a defensive layer and constantly heals milotic without the enemy knowing. It's a smart application of Aqua Ring, using the properties of water and light on top of combining defense and recovery into a single move. It's also probably how milotic escaped unscathed from Bigblue's Muddy Water with the way Muddy Water parted around it. I need to destroy milotic's Aqua Ring or Bigblue will simply tire himself out for nothing.

"Bigblue, Blizzard! Freeze milotic's Aqua Ring!"

Bigblue stopped shooting Mud Shots at milotic, sucked in a deep breath, before releasing a massive snowstorm of ice and snow towards milotic. The ring of water froze and milotic had to get out of it before milotic became a prisoner trapped within the sphere of frozen waters.

"Elise, Blizzard."

If what Bigblue released was a snowstorm of Blizzard, what milotic unleashed was a raging tornado of it. Milotic's Blizzard froze Bigblue immediately, and Bigblue was turned into an ice scuplture within a few seconds. I can't help but inwardly praise milotic's ability to make Bigblue beautiful even when he was encased in ice. The ice clung perfectly to Bigblue's figure, and the resulting image actually looked like a statue of ice in the form of a swampert, just that there is really a swampert in there.

I recalled Bigblue as Wallace recalled his milotic. Wallace's milotic had won the battle with that Blizzard.

Lily lowered the arena and smoothed out the area where Bigblue and milotic fought. Snap used his ground type techniques and buried the swamp deep under the ground and raised up the sands to cover the area. The beach returned to its original state once more, looking as if a battle had never took place. I looked proudly at my pokemon. They had trained very hard to be able to do things like these as if it didn't take any effort. I knew better. To be able to do what they did took a lot of time and effort to practice and thoroughly understand the basic ground and rock type moves before they were able to manage complicated actions like these. It seemed easy, but it is not.

Wallace and Winona had walked up towards me, and Wallace shook my hand.

"That was a good battle. You understood what advantages and disadvantages you faced and reacted accordingly. I'm surprised you noticed Elise's Aqua Ring. Not even Vance noticed that when we battled for the first time, and he is one of the best operatives I have. Your swampert seemed to have a preference for rock and ground type techniques, which is fine. However, it is also a water type. You should spend some time to brush up on its water type techniques. Those water attacks of his could use a lot more work. If your swampert has the same proficiency in its water techniques as his rock or ground type techniques, he will be a formidable foe to face against."

I nodded at Wallace's words as I tried to recap what had happened in our battle. Wallace was right, Bigblue is good with his rock and ground type techniques, even better than many other rock or ground type pokemons we had met on our journey. His usage of water techniques can only be classified as average at best, even when he is a water type pokemon.

"Thank you for your advice. Now that I think about it, we did not train much on Bigblue's water attacks. It was an oversight of my part."

Wallace smiled. "I'm sure you will continue to do a wonderful job in raising your swampert. May I borrow your xtransceiver for a short while?"

I don't know what Wallace wanted to do with my xtransceiver, but I unstrapped it from my wrist and handed it to him anyway. Winona gave me a light pat on the back to congratulate me for a job well done, and I smiled at her in return.

Wallace returned my xtransceiver back to me after fiddling with it. "I am a busy man, but it's also the job of a Champion to guide promising young trainers to grow stronger. If you ever need help in training or learning more about water type pokemons and their techniques, just give me a call or drop me a message. I will try to find time to reply you. Of course, I trust that you will not give my number away to anyone without my permission, unless it is a case of emergency."

I looked down at my xtransceiver to see Wallace's contact number saved in my list of contacts, and looked back up at Wallace with a mixture of surprise and happiness. The Champion of Hoenn actually gave me his personal number!

"Winona and I still have a date to attend to, so we will take our leave now. I will be watching your performance when you eventually take part in the Ever Grande Conference, Velda. We expect great things from you."

Wallace and Winona waved their goodbyes at me before they walked up the stairs on the cliffs and disappeared into the night. I continued to stand on my spot on the beach, trying to get around the fact that Wallace had just gave me his personal contact number. Did we just became friends with each other?

A stupid grin plastered across my face as my team and I slowly made our way back towards the pokemon center to heal Bigblue. I keyed in Vance's contact number on my xtransceiver. I cannot wait to tell him what just happened.

* * *

Our week long vacation finally ended. It was an enjoyable break from all the battles and travelling, and we had a lot of fun. I visited the museum, the Pokemon Fan Club, the Lilycove City's Habour and many other places of interests. I also bought souvenirs for my family and the gym leaders I had faced so far and sent their gifts to them via the Taillow Post. All in all, it was a fruitful break.

It was in the morning on our eighth day in Lilycove. I carried my backpack and walked towards the Lilycove beach with Fuzzy on my shoulder and Rena walking by my side. I planned to release Snap on the beach where there is ample space, and let him fly me to Mossdeep for our next gym challenge. It would only take a few hours to reach there by flight.

I was almost at the beach when I heard the roar of a salamence. I looked ahead and saw a salamence flying up high into the air from the beach area. Looks like there are trainers that are really enjoying themselves here. They must be pretty strong too. Not many Hoenn trainers possess a salamence on their team, even when their species are native to Hoenn. They are just that hard to handle.

The salamence kept flying higher as it attracted the curious stares of Lilycove's citizens, who had begun to notice its presence. It hovered in midair high up in the sky, and my eyes widened.

 _No damn way._

"RUN! THAT SALAMENCE IS USING DRACO METEOR!"

There was no mistaking that move. I had saw many times how a salamence charged up a Draco Meteor when Vance's salamence taught Snap how to use it. That salamence was aiming its Draco Meteor towards the city. This is no attack by an enraged wild pokemon, this is a planned attack by trainers. Draco Meteor is a move that can only be taught to dragons under the tutelage of humans. Snap would not have gotten as far as he is now in Draco Meteor without my help, even if he had salamence's guidance.

The townsfolk around me had heard my warning, and begun to run back towards the center of the city away from the beach to seek shelter. The people on the beach were also trying to run away towards the city after seeing salamence charging up an attack. I heard the sirens blasting as a stampede happened right in front of my eyes, and I had to avoid the townsfolk's' mad rush to safety by running to the side of a nearby building and hide there. I looked up in the sky at the salamence, and I saw a garchomp flying off into the air trying to intercept salamence's attack in time. Someone had decided to try and help save the city.

It's still too late, Draco Meteor had been fired.

The garchomp roared in rage as it engaged the salamence in an aerial battle, pushing it away from Lilycove's airspace. I looked towards the skies and observed the Draco Meteor. The Draco Meteor rained down in a specific direction towards Lilycove as I tried to analyse and predict its trajectory. My eyes widened in horror as I realised that the Draco Meteor is falling towards the Lilycove LSDF office. Someone is trying to take down Lilycove's first line of defense in one fell swoop.

"RENA! CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT DRACO METEOR?"

 _'I'm trying, Mistress! But there is too many of these falling rocks and they are too far away!'_

I released Snap, there's no time to think.

"SNAP! SPLIT LASER BEAM! TAKE DOWN AS MANY METEORS AS YOU CAN! DON'T LET THEM HIT THE TOWN! FUZZY! ASSIST RENA WITH HELPING HAND!"

Snap roared as he flew into the air and charged up a huge Hyper Beam empowered by a Laser Focus. He sent his Hyper Beam towards the meteors, and the beam of energy split further into eight smaller beams of energy as Snap tried to control each individual beam to hit the meteors. His Laser Beam struck and destroyed a large part of salamence's Draco Meteor. The remaining meteors swerved slightly in its trajectory as Rena tried her best to redirect the falling rocks with Psychic with the help from Fuzzy's Helping Hand. She managed to redirect it slightly, but the meteors still rained down on a large part of Lilycove LSDF office, destroying at least half of the building.

FUCK! How many people died in that attack?! Just WHO wanted to stage an invasion on Lilycove?! WHY?!

I recalled Snap. He is too big of a target in the air and I have no idea who the enemies are. I ran back towards the town with Rena and Fuzzy. We need more information on what's happening. The LSDF in Lilycove is as good as a dead magikarp now. The city's best defense has been breached.

Lilycove needs help. But who can help Lilycove now?

My mind suddenly clicked in realisation as I fumbled to find a certain contact number on my xtransceiver. I pressed the call button next to the contact and waited for him to pick up the call.

 _Pleasepleaseplease just **PLEASE** pick up the call! Lilycove needs you! Hoenn needs you!_

"Velda? Hello there! I wasn't expec-"

"LILYCOVE IS UNDER ATTACK! Wallace! PLEASE! We need your help! The LSDF office in Lilycove has been taken out by an unexpected Draco Meteor! There's no one left to defend Lilycove!"

Wallace's voice turned serious, and he quickly asked. "What happened? Tell me what you know so far."

"It was a salamence. It just flew high up in the air from the beach area so everyone thought it was a trainer letting his dragon out for some fun. It suddenly charged up a Draco Meteor and sent it flying towards the LSDF office. Someone's garchomp went to intercept it, but it's too late. My flygon destroyed a large part of the meteors and my espeon tried to redirect the remaining meteors with Psychic, but we were too far away. At least half of the building is gone."

"I'm assembling my forces as we speak. Keep calm, Velda. Help will be there soon. Do you know who is staging the attack? And who is left to maintain Lilycove's defense?"

I was nearing the city center at this point, and I saw that numerous LSDF officers that were not in the LSDF building for whatever lucky reasons were organising a line of defense a short distance in front of the city's center facing the direction of the beach. Some were trying to guide the remaining Lilycove's citizens to safety towards the shelters. Many trainers had volunteered to stay and help defend Lilycove and I saw some Rangers in the defense too.

Despite the unannounced attack, the surviving LSDF officers were trying to organise a temporary defense force. There's still some hope left.

"I can see a number of LSDF officers that were not in the building trying to build a line of defense and organise a temporary defense force. There's not a lot of them. There are several Rangers present and many trainers have stayed behind to help. I think their first priority is to get the civilians to safety into the shelters, from what I can see." I reached the safety line and I was let in behind the line of defense as I turned around to face the direction of the initial attack. "As for who staged the attack-"

I was cut off as I witnessed a large group of people, at least a hundred of them, in uniforms and charging towards us with their pokemons from the beach.

"Team Aqua." I whispered.

"Velda? Are you still there? Are you alright? Answer me!"

"IT'S TEAM AQUA! THERE'S AT LEAST A HUNDRED OF THEM!"

"DAMN IT! Velda, listen carefully. This is not like the official battles you've been through, it's way different! This battle you will be facing is a life-or-death battle. Reinforcements will be coming soon, so hold on! Don't give up no matter what! Kill the enemies' pokemons and those aquas if you have to! Protect yourself! Remember, it's either them or you! Don't overextend during battles! Your safety should be your first priority, you are not prepared for situations like these! Leave the main bulk of the defense role to the LSDF officers and the rangers, and stick close to an ally! I'm hanging up now! Stay safe!"

With a click our call ended, and I wasted no time in releasing my entire team for battle.

"Velda?! Why are you still here? You should head for the shelters!"

I turned and saw a very worried Officer Haley together with a ninetales and a rhydon running up to me. Thank goodness, she's alive.

"I can't run anymore, my body's too weak to continue doing so. My pokemon can help, even if it is just to provide basic support. I have six gym badges and five of them are earned by defeating the gym leaders in battle. We won't be a liability. If things gets too hot, I will head for the shelters right away, so don't worry about me."

Officer Haley bit her lower lips as she heard what I told her. She looked towards the Team Aqua members charging towards us, there's no time to hesitate.

"You will stay at the very back of the defense line trying to help wherever you can. You are still too young for this, no matter how accomplished a trainer you are. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Prepare your team for battle, the aquas will be reaching our range of fire in less than a minute."

Officer Haley ran back to the front of the defense line, and I turned to my pokemons, who had realised the gravity of this situation we found ourselves in.

 _'I had already briefed the team about what happened, Mistress.'_

"Thank you, Rena. Listen up guys. We are under attack, and our job is to provide support to our allies and buy time for reinforcements to arrive. Try not to friendly-fire our allies. Snap, you are up in the air. Make sure the enemy cannot rain attacks on us from above, they may have flying types. Take them out if you can. Flamel, Dolly, you guys are on sabotage duties. You will go and disrupt the enemies' front-lines for the LSDF and Rangers to take them down. If things gets too dangerous, come back here. Bigblue, Lily, you guys will aid with the defense at the front, keep and eye out for Flamel and Dolly. The rest of you, you are with me in case someone breaks through our line of defense. We will pick them off if that's the case." I took a pause as I tried to calm my breathing. Wallace's words rang in my mind.

 _'Remember, it's either them or you.'_

"You guys are allowed to use lethal force on our enemies. We are at war here. Kill the enemy trainers and their pokemons if you can. Put them down for good, we are severely outnumbered. I am a selfish person. I don't care who else outside of our team dies today, but I want all of you to come back to me alive in one piece when this is over. I will try my best to stay alive as well. You got me?"

My pokemon voiced their promise to me, eyes determined. I turned towards the direction of Team Aqua. Lilycove's temporary defense force has begun to fire its first volley of attacks.

"Let's go, we have a war to fight."

* * *

 **AN: I don't think a war with Team Aqua is what you guys are expecting, but the invasion of Lilycove is something that I have always planned to write even before I published the first chapter of IJWTTTW. Remember the story's summary? "I did not ask to get involved with crime syndicates or get caught in government politics." The crime syndicate part is here. Government politics will be much later, I'm still in the process of trying to work it out.**

 **I wanted to re-highlight the dangers of travelling alone in the world as a 11 or 12 year old kid. There were many scenarios I could write, like robbery, kidnapping etc. In the end I decided to write about attempted rape. I apologise if the topic of discussion is an uncomfortable for you, but it is a very real thing in real life.** **I don't condone rape. Rapists are one of the worst scums in my opinion.** **There are many cases of tourists experiencing things like robbery, kidnapping, rape, and all sorts of other unpleasant experience. It's just that these cases may not appear often on the news. You will be surprised at the number of people who experienced such things while travelling to foreign countries if you asked around. If these happened in real life, then it's very likely to find such cases in the pokemon world as well, where there are overpowered creatures doing the bidding of humans.**

 **I hoped I didn't traumatise or offend anyone with the attempted rape scene, but I felt that it was the most likely thing to happen to Velda given her circumstances. She doesn't look like she have much money as a 12 year old, so what would scums want to do with her? The idea of attempted rape was the first to pop out in my mind. Kidnapping was a close second, but I didn't have any ideas on how to write it. I wanted to challenge myself and write something way out of my comfort zone, and this is an opportunity to do so. If you guys get offended or anything, just skip that part. I just want to gently remind you that this fanfic is rated M for a reason.**

 **The next chapter will be a fight to the death against Team Aqua. I could have chose Team Magma as the villains at Lavaridge, but Velda is still too inexperienced at that time as a trainer, so it was not suitable to introduce the villains of the story just yet. Things are getting more realistic now, which is the whole point of writing IJWTTTW, to write a realistic world of pokemon.**

 **I have been looking forward to writing this chapter after having thoughts about it since more than two weeks ago. It felt great to finally get it out. I'm more eager to start writing the next chapter, it is going to be a very big part of IJWTTTW's story, since it was actually the first scene I planned out, even before I started thinking about writing any of the gym challenges.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this story.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charmeleon (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar, (Kratos), male**

 **Agatha, Age: ?, Female, Ex Indigo Elite Four Member**

 **1) Gengar (Willy)**

 **2) Gengar (Nilly)**

 **Wallace, Age: 33, Male, Hoenn Champion, ACE Operative and Commander of Ghost Company**

 **1) Luvdisc**

 **2) Milotic (Elise)**


	15. Chapter 15- War

We were severely outnumbered.

I don't know how long it had been since the first wave of Team Aqua members clashed with the front line of our forces, but it felt like an eternity for me.

Luckily for the temporary defense force that the remaining LSDF officers had hastily organised, the place we had positioned ourselves to fight the aquas is way narrower than the other streets of Lilycove. It is also the only invasion route to take if any invading forces ever attacked Lilycove, something I realised Hoenn's founders must have planned when they built Lilycove City. Thus, we can still hold them off despite the difference in numbers. The only ones who can go past this route are those who can fly through the air with flying types, but some of us had that covered with our pokemons with flight capabilities. Team Aqua's salamence is still fighting with the garchomp, and I cannot help but feel grateful to whoever garchomp's trainer is. If salamence was allowed to fire off a second volley of Draco Meteor, we are all toast. Snap is in the air, taking down Team Aqua's flocks of wingulls and pelippers. They have a few skarmorys as well, which Snap have no problem burning them into a crisp with Flamethrower. Individually, most of Team Aqua's pokemons do not pose a threat to us. The problem is that they made up their lack of quality with quantity. Fortunately, most of the LSDF and Rangers who were with us are at least Elite level in strength, and were instrumental in holding the last act of defense Lilycove is putting up.

That doesn't change the fact that we were really severely outnumbered, and we will be overrun if help doesn't arrive soon.

The invasion brought out the best and worst of both humans and pokemons. I have to watch as my pokemons, who are usually caring, lovable creatures, bring out their violent and monstrous sides. Bigblue, my goofy, happy-go-lucky Bigblue, took on a crawdaunt, gripped its pincers and ripped it out of its body through sheer strength. It used crawdaunt's dismembered limb as a hammer to slam crawdaunt into the ground before caving its head in with a Hammer Arm, killing it instantly. Lily, my quiet Lily who usually preferred to sway in the sun than to do anything else, single-handedly took on a pack of mightyenas and wrapped a tentacle around each of their necks before forcefully snapping it, ending them all at once. I also saw how she worked in tandem with Bigblue to raise spikes of stones from the ground and impaled both Team Aqua members and their pokemons in a well-timed attack. It's brutal. I never wanted to see my gentle Lily forced to act in this manner.

My Flamel, my starter that has been by my side ever since my ninth birthday stomped and cracked the heads of fallen aquas and their pokemons. He burnt enemies that got too close to him and Dolly. He disrupted any of their attacks and broke through their ranks by charging in before getting back out, allowing the remaining LSDF and Rangers to go in for the kill. Dolly, my cheerful Dolly who wanted nothing more than companionship, fully embraced her vicious nature as a ghost as she assassinated aquas and their pokemons alike. She stabbed them from behind, blast them with over-powered attacks, and even ripped some of them from the inside out in a violent display of gore and blood. She helped protect Flamel whenever he charged through the ranks of Team Aqua forces, and had to save him a few times with Shadow Sneak's teleportation to ensure that they both stay alive.

Snap had no problems letting his inner dragon out. My adorable Snap, who only wanted the occasional challenging battles and a nice sand bath, blasted flocks of flying pokemons that Team Aqua had let out. He slashed them apart, cooked them alive, or simply blasted them into unrecognisable pieces of meat. I forbade the use of Draco Meteor unless absolutely necessary, it will leave him too weak to move for a moment after using it, which is something too dangerous to be exposed to in a warzone.

My remaining five pokemon stayed around me. Kel prepared invisible blades of Razor Winds that she used as traps. Any of our enemies who were lucky enough to get past our front lines had their throats slit by Razor Winds. Kratos helped to shield any stray attacks in our direction with applications of Focus Rock and moved any injured members in the temporary defense force away from the fighting with Rock Surf. Rena helped him in his endeavour while using her Psychic powers to ward off attacks, establishing a one-way telepathic link for me to contact the entire team to help coordinate or warn them from attacks they are not aware of. Toothless sniped targets with his flames from where he is at the back of the lines, or whichever flying type pokemons that belonged to Team Aqua if they got too close to us. Fuzzy stayed by me as he supported the team with Thunder Waves and Shock Waves, prioritising accuracy over power, aiming to provide support by paralysing our foes rather than take them out in powerful blasts so that he can last longer in fights. He is the one positioned closest to me, and had to jumped in harm's way to protect me when a poochyena managed to sneak past our defenses and tried to maul me. Fuzzy blocked it off with a Protect, before tearing its throat out with a Hyper Fang. Toothless re-positioned himself closer to me after that together with Kel, as we tried to help defend Lilycove, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

I also saw the best in humans and pokemons that was brought out in the face of crisis. I saw trainers instructing their pokemons to help save pokemons belonging to our allies. I saw trainers helping each other to stand and maintain our defenses. I even saw one trainer throwing his body towards a snarling mightyena and shoved it off a fallen trainer from our side, saving his life just as Officer Haley's ninetales destroyed the mightyena with a Flamethrower. I saw my pokemons defending other pokemons on our side from potentially fatal injuries as they helped defend them as well. Several of the weaker pokemons we have on hand joined Kratos and Rena in pulling our injured members away from the fight so that they have time to heal or to seek shelter when they are too injured to be of any help. There were other inexperienced trainers, and we helped each other in directing the rescue operations with our pokemons so that we can minimise our casualties after this war is over.

Is this how the warring states era was like? Is this how life was in the pokemon world before the PWL was founded? God, I can't imagine it.

Things started to look better for a while as Lilycove's defenders held their ground and we actually managed to slowly push back Team Aqua's assault. The number of casualties on our side started to lessen a little. Team Aqua tend to use packs of pokemons from the same species, like mightyenas, golbats, and pelippers. They probably injected their pokemons with some sort of drug. Most of them were feral and uncontrollable, their eyes were bloodshot as they tried to take us down without caring about their own lives. We had no choice but to put them down for good. Hope welled up slowly in us as we gradually thinned out Team Aqua's numbers. We can do this. There's hope to hold out until reinforcements from the Hoenn League arrived. I myself had sent a call to Wallace, and I'm sure that someone among the temporary defense force had sent word out to someone somewhere before the fight officially started.

A sudden explosion can be seen at the front lines, and my view was blocked out due to the mayhem happening. Not a second later, trainers and pokemons from our side were violently thrown to the side and I could only pray that they are still alive.

Our line of defense had been breached.

A machamp made its presence known as it beats its chest and roared its challenge to the sky. It charged into our defense line and knocked anyone away that tried to intercept it through sheer physical strength. More Team Aqua members appeared from the beach and released more pokemon out, many of them fully evolved, as they renewed their assault on us once more.

Despite the breach, many of our remaining allies regrouped and formed back the defense line. I spotted Bigblue taking on 3 crawdaunts at once as he expertly defended himself and returned devastating attacks of his own. Lily reshaped the entire area around her using her own powers, the ground shot rock spikes up and impaled many of Team Aqua members and their pokemon. Team Aqua finally saw her as a threat and attempted to finish her, but Lily healed faster than what they can dish out, and finished them instead. Some of her surrounding allies recognised the importance of the defensive powers that Lily wielded, and helped to protect her as Lily killed our enemies en masse.

Lily's the best defensive battler in our team for a damn good reason.

The opponents in the sky had multiplied as Snap briefly healed himself with Roost, before charging into the fray once again. The garchomp from earlier joined him, and I guessed that it had probably killed the salamence a while ago. The two dragons led our aerial forces, aiming to decimate our foes for us to gain aerial superiority. Thankfully, the underground of Lilycove is too hard for any pokemon to dig through, so we would not need to defend ourselves from an ambush from underground.

Team Aqua's machamp still posed a problem to us. The machamp was within our defenses as it kept charging ahead, not stopping until it reached the very end of our forces. I saw Lily trying to grab it with its tentacles, but she got intercepted and was forced to deal with a bunch of spheals. Bigblue is still fighting off a pack of crawdaunts. I tried to see if there was anyone else that was both capable of stopping the machamp and did not have their hands full.

There were none.

I looked back at the machamp as it continued its charge, batting trainers and pokemons aside. We will all be destroyed by him at this rate.

 _'Mistress! This four-armed creature is aiming for the shelters!'_

I analysed machamp's projected route if it was to continue its charge. Fuck. Rena's right. If machamp got past us, the defenseless citizens that we were trying to protect will be slaughtered like helpless wurmples. The shelters was where machamp was trying to reach.

"Fuzzy! Kel! Toothless! Rena! Kratos! With me! We need to stop the machamp or everyone will get massacred!"

There were no one else left to pull the injured to safety the moment I decided to engage machamp. The other trainers that were working with me to help evacuate the injured either got themselves killed by a stray Hyper Beam prior to this, or were too injured after that to help me. Kratos had jumped in front of me together with Rena to use a Protect to save me. I was the only one left.

My remaining five pokemons joined me as we ran in machamp's direction, hoping to stall it as I tried to think of ways to put it down. Nothing immediate came to mind. There was a reason why I didn't send them out into the front lines with the rest. Most of them here are either not as strong as the rest, or do not have the necessary battle experience. Kel lacks battle experience despite being highly trained due to her dislike of battles. Toothless had loads of experience but lacks power. Rena is decent enough in a fight, but is still relatively new and inexperienced to handle herself in a battle like this. Kratos had not yet attained power nor experience needed to face machamp and Fuzzy is definitely out of the question. He's not a battler and didn't train much.

Typing wise, Rena will be our best bet against machamp.

"Everyone, support Rena. She will be our main attacker against machamp, her psychic attacks should be powerful enough to deal significant damage. Toothless, Kel, I want you to be by her side at all times to protect her. Kratos, Fuzzy, you two are on support duties as usual, remember the battle we had with Winona."

It wasn't long when we finally managed to cut off machamp's charge as Kel unleashed waves of Razor Winds and Future Sights with her Prediction combo, which she had prepared while we ran here.

The battle started instantly as Toothless threw himself into the fray to get machamp's attention on him, blasting fire and slashing away with his claws. Kel stayed behind to launch ranged attacks of her own while she prepared another Prediction combo and hid herself and Rena with Double Team. Rena fired huge blasts of psychic attacks as she stayed behind Kratos. Kratos tried to shift the rocks and earth to trap machamp to no avail as they were destroyed with a single swing of its arms. Fuzzy tried to paralyse and numb machamp with electric attacks but it just seemed to bounce off machamp's thick skin.

This machamp had to be at least on an Elite level, and it had to be injected with drugs for it to be this murderous. We are so screwed.

In spite of my negative thoughts, we were doing fine in holding off machamp from reaching its supposed destination. The machamp was pushed back as we increased the intensity of our attacks. It's not impossible to be put down with five of my pokemons here, but it will take some time given that most of them aren't the main battlers on my team. Machamp had identified Rena as the main threat and tried to get to her, but was unable to spot her as multiple copies of Kel's Double Team obstructed his vision. Toothless expertly blocked and fired attacks that managed to inflict a burn-

Oh shit. The most common ability among the machamp species is Guts, to increase its own attack upon being inflicted by a status ailment.

"Guys! Get out of there!"

My team barely retreated to safety as machamp unleashed a Superpower that left a huge crater on where it was standing. Toothless was pulled out in time by Rena's Psychic and my team was forcefully scattered, Kel's Double Team had dropped from the disruption to her focus.

Machamp took the opportunity as it bashed Kel and Kratos, who were nearer, and sent them flying to my direction and landed a short distance away from me. I recalled them back with shaky hands as I saw the extent of their injuries. Kratos's armour was caved in and a huge dent could be seen, Kel's front legs were bending in the wrong directions and I could only hope that she didn't break any other important parts of her body, like her spine. Rena tried to resume her attacks, but machamp sent her light body flying far away from us with a swing of its fist towards where our front line is. Thankfully, she managed to pull off a Protect and Reflect combo to prevent herself from sustaining critical injuries and had nothing more than a scrape. However, she is now stuck in the thick of the fighting on the front lines, and was intercepted by a pack of feral linoones and mightyenas. She won't be able to come back to help us anytime soon.

 _'Mistress!'_

 _'Focus! Rena! Deal with your situation first! You are more than capable to handle it alone! We can last long enough until you come back! We will be alright, so focus on your battle and make sure you come back safely to us!'_

 _'I will make haste with my battles, stay safe and wait for one of us to reach you!'_

 _'I will! Now go battle and focus on your surroundings!'_

Toothless roared in rage at the sight of his fallen comrades as he battled with machamp once more with Fuzzy running interference. Toothless continued to increase the powers of his attacks, but it wasn't enough. The maximum power attained by a charmeleon is still not enough to fight off this feral, yet well-trained machamp, whose battle instincts seemed to sharpen with the drugs running in its bloodstream.

Machamp got fed up with Toothless and Fuzzy and unleashed a massive wave of Rock Slide, which Toothless had no choice but to block with a Protect due to the speed it was coming at him and was swiftly buried under the pile of rocks. Fuzzy managed to weave his way around it and tried to attack machamp with a Super Fang, only to use a Protect to shield itself from a Bullet Punch that it had just managed to conjure in time and was forcefully thrown towards me.

The speed at which Fuzzy collided into me threw me into a concrete wall that used to be part of a clothing store. I felt my head hit the wall _hard_ as I slumped onto the ground right after. My vision blurred as I saw my blood pooling around me where I laid. I could make out Fuzzy standing in front of me trying to prevent me from losing consciousness by nudging and shaking me. Toothless broke out of the Rock Slide with a roar, coated with flames and he spotted my fallen form. In a fit of rage, he charged at machamp recklessly to tear it limb from limb.

The last thing I saw was a shine of bright light emitting from Toothless before I sunk into the darkness.

* * *

Toothless shielded himself with a Protect from the mountain on rocks that had fallen on him.

That stupid four-armed freak was well-trained, Toothless can tell that much. But in terms of experience and skill, Toothless knew he was way better, he just don't have the required power to back it up in order to overwhelm his opponents.

 _'VEL! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! DON'T SLEEP!'_

What?! What had happened to Vel? Wasn't Fuzzy supposed to be watching her?

Toothless coated himself in flames for a Flare Blitz as he broke through the rocks piled up on him. He saw Vel lying in a pool of blood far away from where she was supposed to be standing a short moment ago, her breaths are getting shorter and Toothless can feel his trainer getting weaker every second.

 _'TOOTHLESS! DON'T LET THE FOUR-ARMED MONSTER GET ANY CLOSER TO VEL! STOP IT! I WILL STOP HER BLEEDING! JUST GO!'_

Without hesitation, Toothless threw himself onto the monster that had hurt his trainer and master, blasting flames and slashing at it. The creature blocked his attacks and returned its own with its fists. Toothless dodged and blocked its attacks just as how he was taught the moment Vel deemed him old enough to train at half a moon cycle old.

Vel wasn't just a trainer to him. She gave him strength. Strength that he had always wanted. She gave him comfort, whenever he started doubting himself she will be there to reassure him that everything is going to be alright. She gave him love, she fussed over him and scolded him whenever he misbehaved, but he knew it was for his own good.

Vel wasn't just his trainer and master. She is his friend. She is family. She is home.

And now she's lying down there bleeding and _dying_.

Toothless knew he needed attacks that are more powerful that he currently knew, and he only knew one that he might just be able to pull off right now. He reached for his inner flames, and tried to imagine the white-hot flames that devoured everything in its way, just as Flamel demonstrated.

Nothing came out and Toothless was pushed back by a single punch from that blasted insane creature.

 _You will not be able to use Overheat as a charmeleon, Toothless. Your body is just not built for it. You need to evolve into a charizard before you can even begin to try and use it._

All of the things he could have done, he _just_ have to ignore Vel's words, didn't he? Vel was rarely wrong, he knew it. He _just_ have to ignore her words because of his stupid pride, didn't he? He put off his evolution, delayed the possibility of obtaining a greater increase of power, a power that might have saved Vel from _dying_ out there just because he was too prideful and stubborn to listen to her, didn't he? What good has it done? Vel, the only human in this world who he cared about, is now lying down there and _**dying** _because of him and his stupid pride.

Toothless felt his body glowing and getting larger as he slashed at the creature.

 _It's all his damn fault_

He roared and blasted his flames at the creature, making it back off in pain as he could feel the new limbs growing on the back of his body.

 _It's all his damn fault._

He felt his legs grow thicker, scales got harder, and his claws and fangs sharpen and he could feel the flames breathing out of his mouth growing hotter.

 _It's all his damn fault, it's all his damn fault, itsallhisdamnfaultitsallhisdamnfaultitsallhisdamnfault **IT'S ALL HIS DAMN FAULT THAT HIS VEL IS LYING ON THE GROUND AND DYING RIGHT NOW!**_

With a final roar the light from his body died down and Toothless knew that he had finally evolved. He didn't care, all he cared about now is to murder this creature as fast as possible so that he can get back to Vel's side and try to save her from the claws of death. She nearly died once at Petalburg, and he will be damned if it happened for real this time because of him.

Because of him and his stupid pride.

He charged at the creature once more. He slashed with his claws and spitted flames from his mouth. His new wings helped blocked and attacked the extra limbs of the creature as he tried to control it through instinct alone. He had another two new limbs to help him in addition to his claws this time around, even though he doesn't know how to use it to fly yet. Still, this time he found himself blocking and shrugging off the creature's attacks a lot easier, his flames did more damage as the creature cried out in pain. Yes, Toothless wants to hear the cries of sufferings from the mouth of this creature. The amount of pain this creature is feeling right now is nowhere near the pain it inflicted on Vel and his heart.

Toothless erected a large wall of wall behind the creature with Rock Tomb. He is not proficient in it, but raising obstacles isn't a problem. He blasted the creature towards the wall with a Fire Blast, throwing the creature into the wall of rock. There's no escaping his rage now.

Toothless unleashed his very first successful Overheat onto the vile creature as he cooked the creature alive with the white-hot flames. The creature screamed out in pain as its skin got burnt and its flesh got charred, and begged for mercy. No. No mercy will be given. Toothless's rage will never be quelled even if the creature is reduced to ashes and scattered across the mountains. He increased the intensity of the flames of Overheat even more, and soon the creature was reduced to an unrecognisable pile of burnt flesh.

He tried to make his way back to Vel, uncaring the state of the sickening creature as long as it is dead, only to be attacked by a large pack of mutts that belonged to the void.

Toothless tried to unleashed his flames once more, only to find that none came out of his mouth. _Extreme overuse of Overheat will result in a temporary state where you will not be able to use flames for a short while, so remember not to overcommit and use all your powers in fueling Overheat, ok?_

He just have to forget Vel's teaching _again_ , didn't he?

Even without his greatest weapon, Toothless is far from helpless. Vel had trained him to the point where he is entirely capable of defending himself with his fangs, claws and tail alone. It is only a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience that he really doesn't want to face right now where he doesn't know if Vel is dead or alive.

She'd better be alive, or he will bathe the entire city in flames once he got his fire back, allies in the way or not.

Facing these suicidal mutts wasted time, time where he could use to go to Vel's side and ensure her safety, even if he doesn't know how he could help. But at least he can be there to help. Toothless snarled and unleashed a Dragon Pulse, he don't usually like to use this move due to how weird it felt when he used it, like he's part dragon but yet not dragon, but he needed every single power he have to reach Vel's side in time.

The Dragon Pulse created distance between him and the mutts, giving him some time to recollect himself. He was about to charge in, before a series of familiar tentacles shot up from the ground, wrapped itself around the necks of some of the mutts, and slammed them violently head-first onto the ground, breaking their necks.

Lily.

Some of those mutts tried to advance and bite him, only to find themselves sinking into the softened ground as something big and blue came flying from the side and bashed them through the walls of the buildings, killing them instantly.

Bigblue.

There were still many of the mutts left, and they split off into smaller groups to take on their newly appeared foes. Almost at the same time, a fast moving mass of flames charged and broke through a group of them, sending them flying into Lily's waiting grasp as she snapped their necks once more. The shadows moved beneath another group of mutts as an overpowered Thunderbolt shot out from it and burnt them alive from the heat of the attack. Draconic fire rained from above as it sniped mutt after mutt, putting them out of the count. A Dazzling Gleam shot towards the final group of mutts, annihilating any traces of them.

Flamel, Dolly, Snap, Rena. All of them had returned to aid him and their fallen trainer.

 _'TOOTHLESS! WHERE'S MISTRESS!'_

 _'Over where Fuzzy is, follow me!'_

Toothless ran clumsily as he tried to adjust to his new body. He wanted to fly, but he still didn't manage to find the instinct needed to use it for that very purpose. His comrades ran alongside him, defending him from any stray attacks since he is still out of flames.

They managed to find Vel, who is still lying on the ground motionlessly. Fuzzy had managed to wrap its long body around her head where most of the spilled blood had leaked from, attempting to stem and stop her blood from flowing out. His usually white fur is stained red with Vel's blood.

 _'Guys! We need to find a human-healer! Vel can't hold on much longer and I can't move away from her to seek help! Her body's turning cold! Someone heat her up!'_

Toothless gently picked Vel up in his arms and tried to hug her as close to his body as possible, taking extra care to support her head gently, hoping that his own body heat will be enough to stop the process of her body turning colder. She is still alive, but she will not be for long if help doesn't arrive soon.

Another explosion occurred from where the main part of the fighting was and they could see more of these feral, vile, atrocious creatures breaking through the defense lines and heading in their direction. Bigblue immediately raised walls of stone and pushed them away with a huge wave of Muddy Water, buying them some time before getting their attention.

 _'Everyone, listen to me. Vel is injured and we need to get her to a human-healer, but we cannot all go off together. Someone has to stay and stall these abominations or they will catch up with us and pick us off one by one, me and Lily will stay and stall them as long as we can. There is almost no one left at the defense line now, no point going back there. We were overrun, pushed back, and forcefully separated. I don't know how many trainers survived. I need Dolly and Flamel to help us run interference and Snap for air support, just as how Vel initially stationed us. Rena told me Kratos and Kel were taken out, so that leaves Fuzzy, Rena and Toothless to carry her away from here and seek help from human-healers. Rena, I want you to try and maintain a psychic link with each of us so that you can tell us when to pull out the moment Vel is in safe hands. Fuzzy, continue what you are doing. Toothless, you cannot help us now without your flames, so swallow down your lust for battles and carry Vel to safety. Vel wanted us to stay alive, and I want each of us to try and keep our promise to her. She is trying very hard to keep her promise as well, but she needs our help_.'

 _'I will get Mistress to safety and do my part, don't worry about us, Bigblue.'_

 _'Are we done? Cos Vel won't hold on much longer if we dally here! My fur can't keep all her blood inside her body!'_

 _'GO! Me and Bigblue will maintain our defenses as long as possible. Bigblue and I can now finally cut loose without any worry of friendly-fire to the other trainers, our moves are too destructive to be used with them around. We will be fine, I won't let them get past my tentacles.'_

Snap simply roared and flew into the air before unleashing Dragon Breaths down to where the enemies are. Dolly shrieked and dove back into the shadows, this time she seeked to brutally murder the enemy trainers instead of their pokemon, trusting the rest of the team to take care of them. Flamel gave a war cry as he charged and broke through the enemies ranks, rushing to aid Dolly in its attempt to kill as many as these evil humans. Bigblue and Dolly changed the battlefield instantly, sharp rocks sprouted out of the ground at rapid speeds as they impaled a large number of enemy humans and pokemons. Bigblue took control of the offense, systematically taking out a large part of their foes section by section as Lily took care of the defense, blocking attacks that would have harmed her comrades, making sure that they will all fulfill their promise to Vel. They knew Vel is fighting hard to keep her promise to them. They trust her to stay alive. Lily and Bigblue unleashed attacks that could only be used around members of their team and not around unfamiliar allies. They all know each other battle habits and can coordinate with each other well enough even without words. They knew when to avoid areas that Flamel and Dolly will charge through. They knew who not to attack since Snap is already taking care of it, attacking them together will be a waste of precious time and energy. They knew how to unleash and pull off combination attacks that Vel had taught them to use with each other that can only be achieved when they all work together and perfected the sequences after many training sessions. They devastated the battlefield, wrecking their enemies and crushing their forces at a rapid pace, their rage and worry fueling them. Nothing is holding them back now, there are no unfamiliar allies around them that will be caught in the crossfire of their attacks. They can all unleash their full potential, potential that Vel had unlocked for them.

Toothless gritted his teeth as he ran away from the battlefield. Vel's well-being is more important now. He still did not manage to fly, only managing to do clumsy flaps of his wings. He settled for using his wings as shields that positioned itself around Vel protectively. Rena ran by his side as Fuzzy remained wrapped on Vel's head. They had a vague idea on where the shelter is located, and they are trying to find them, hoping that there is a human-healer among them. Rena can act as a translator if they meet any of the non-evil humans. He stopped suddenly, his nose picking up a familiar scent.

 _'Rena! I think Vance is here! Try and reach him with your telepathy!'_

Rena narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on finding Vance's presence, straining herself visibly.

 _'I cannot find him specifically, but I sense a group of humans that just teleported into the city! Vance should be there! I think they are on our side from where they are heading. I will try to establish a public link to everyone there, even if Vance isn't present, someone can help!'_

 _'What are you waiting for? Do it! My fur's not helping to stop the blood as effectively as before!'_

Rena didn't bother to respond as she released a massive wave of psychic energy that nearly threw Toothless off his feet.

* * *

Carnage. All he can see is carnage, death, and more death.

Vance clenched his teeth in anger as he stood on top of his metagross who is levitating high up in the air with his psychic powers. He heard the typical popping sounds that signifies the teleportation of his ACE comrades' arrival onto the battlefield, who had joined him in the air with their flying type pokemons. He released salamence as he roared and hovered beside him and weavile stood by his feet on top of metagross.

"Arceus! These fucking aquas! They will pay!"

"Shut up, Terror. Save your anger on the battlefield. We have people to save and aquas to murder. Don't forget why we are here." Vance responded to Terence, call sign Terror. Vance's call sign on the field is Phantom. Right now, he is not Vance Vera, he is Phantom, second-in-command of Ghost Company. All of them have combat masks on their faces and wore full body armour, it is impossible for their enemies to tell who is who from their appearance.

"Has everyone teleported here? Good." Wallace, whose call sign is Chaos and their commanding officer, spoke. "Our objective is to save the citizens of Lilycove, aid the trainers and personnels of the Hoenn forces who had organised a temporary defense force, and destroy Team Aqua who had invaded the city. Lethal force is allowed, I had put the whole Hoenn on Code Red. Any more questions? None? In that-"

A massive wave of psychic energy washed over everyone from their company as they hovered in the air with their pokemon, causing most of them to lose their balance temporarily.

"What the hell was that?!" Larry, call sign Hollow, shouted out.

 _'HELP! SOMEONE HELP! VANCE! RESPOND IF YOU ARE THERE! PLEASE! VEL IS DYING AND WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! OR ANYONE! PLEASE! MY MISTRESS IS DYING!'_

Vance's heart dropped into his stomach as he heard the telepathic message in his head. His mind stopped working temporarily. Vance knew Velda was at Lilycove, but he assumed that she would be safe in the shelters since she won't be of any help on the battlefield given her age. No way the LSDF will let her enter into a warzone. She's still a kid. _So why is she injured and dying out here?!_

Wallace shouted at him from the top of his gyarados who had acheived the rare ability to fly in the sky, something only achievable if it reaches a huge amount of power through rigorous training. "VANCE! Snap out of it! Go to your sister! She must be really injured for her psychic pokemon to be willing to establish a public link with everyone here! Take Mask with you! You can join us in battle later when your sister is out of danger!"

Vance didn't waste anymore time. He commanded salamence and weavile to aid his ACE comrades and weavile jumped onto salamence's back before salamence charged into battle with the entirety of Ghost Company. He mentally commanded metagross to fly him towards where the psychic wave had originated as Mask, their field medic, flew right behind him with his skarmory. He told metagross to try and find Rena using his psychic powers and to link them up with a telepathic link.

 _'Rena? It's me! Vance! Where exactly are you?!'_

In response, a wave of trees near the woods of Lilycove fell not far from where they are at their two o'clock.

 _'Where the trees just fell! Did you see it?'_

 _'I saw it! We are coming! Hang in there!'_

Vance saw his sister's bloodied form in Toothless's arms as he flew in with his metagross. Toothless is now a charizard, and Fuzzy wrapped itself around her head, trying to act as a makeshift bandage to stem the flow of the blood spilling out of her body. It was what probably allowed Velda to stay alive as long as she could, she'd obviously been out here for way too long. Mask jumped down from his skarmory and pulled out his medic pouch, gently prying Fuzzy away from Velda's wounds so that he can examine it.

Mask quickly bandaged Velda's head wound as he spoke. "I cannot do much for your sister out on the field, Vance! I'm teleporting back to Ever Grande Hospital with my alakazam, only they have the necessary equipment to save her now. Your sister's espeon might have knowledge on what the hell just happened, ask her if she have any important information! Don't lose your cool now! Our comrades need their second-in-command! We need Ghost Company's Phantom!"

"I know. Just go. Try to save my sister."

"I will try my damn best, you know it." Mask gently lifted Velda in his arms, bridal style, as he simultaneously released his alakazam and recalled his skarmory. He disappeared in a Teleport a second later.

"Rena, you heard him. Vel is safe now. I need you to tell me what happened, and where are the rest of Vel's pokemon?"

 _'Come with me!'_ Rena started to run off in a direction which was swiftly followed by Vance and the rest of the group. _'I just managed to contact Bigblue and the others, they are making their way here as we speak! I was with Mistress at the back most of the time, so I'm unsure what happened at the front lines. Bigblue had mentioned that the front had been overrun, so I'm assuming not many had survived. I didn't pay much attention to what he was speaking about the situation at the front since Mistress was bleeding out. We need to find him or Lily to know more!'_

Vance felt his blood boiled in rage as he processed Rena's words and saw the corpses of people and pokemon who had tried to defend Lilycove with their lives while running behind Rena. He let out the rest of his team, who ran beside him as Rena led the front with Toothless and Fuzzy. His team had sense his anger and they all prepared themselves.

There was no need for any explanation when he saw the remainder of Velda's pokemon fighting desperately as they tried to retreat into the woods near Lilycove, defending themselves from waves of feral pokemon. He saw his ACE comrades trying to help them from afar, but unable to reach them as they were intercepted by the large number of enemies they faced.

Vance gave a single flick of his hand, and the remainder of his team charged into battle to aid Velda's pokemon who were on the brink of exhaustion. Macky dove in and put himself in front of Velda's pokemon, and pushed the entire wave of feral pokemon back with an overpowered Focus Blast, creating space between Velda's pokemon and their enemies. His walrein stood guard in front of him as it allowed Velda's pokemon to retreat past them. Velda's and Vance's pokemon had met many times before, they knew and trusted each other. Vance had told Rena to bring the rest of Velda's team to safety and to lay low until the fighting is over. He will find them later with his metagross's and gallade's psychic powers.

"Kill them all, leave none alive."

With a single command, Vance's pokemons increased the ferocity of their attacks, making quick work of their enemies as they went on to slaughter whatever enemies they could find, uncaring if they were humans or pokemons. His magmortar and electivire returned by his side to guard him together with walrein as the rest of his team moved forward to crush Team Aqua at a rapid pace. They don't need him to command them in a warzone, he had made sure to train them to the point that they were capable of holding their own in a battlefield even without his help.

He walked forward calmly with his pokemon guards onto the battlefield, the three of them destroying anyone foolish enough to approach them.

Vance spotted an aqua grunt trying to ambush and stab him with a knife. He don't even need his pokemon for this. He parried and grabbed the knife from grunt's hands and used it to stab him in the gut before breaking his neck with both of his hands. He dropped the lifeless body of the grunt as he continued his walk towards the beach, increasing his pace, his pokemons bringing about destruction to their enemies as they single-handedly created an open path for his ACE comrades behind him, displaying the strength that had earned him the position of the second-in-command of Ghost Company. Wallace had flown ahead to the beach with his gyarados, and is wrecking havoc with his team, destroying the main force of Team Aqua at the back. Wallace doesn't need any help, he alone will be enough to handle the main force of Team Aqua.

Vance clenched his fists as he continued to push onward. These scums had hurt his sister. They will _pay_.

In

 _ **BLOOD**_

* * *

 **AN: Finally got this chapter out. I have been waiting to write this chapter for so long as it showed the possibilities that pokemon can be at their best and worst. I hoped that I captured the characterisation of each character properly.**

 **Let me know what you guys think about this chapter, since I know the taste can be a little bit heavy for some of you who are used to the anime style of pokemon, where deaths are mostly censored.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and Pokemon List:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar, (Kratos), male**


	16. Chapter 16- Counter-attack

Beep

Beep

Beep

Ugh... Where am I? And can someone stop that annoying beeping sound?

What was I doing? Where am I? What happened-

 ** _DEATHBLOODMACHAMPKELKRATOSTOOTHLESS_**

"TOOTHLESS!"

"Vel! Calm DOWN! Look at me! I'm right here! It's me! Vance! C'mon calm down and look at me!"

I felt someone holding me down by my shoulders as I thrashed around. Vance? What happened? I was at Lilycove wasn't I? What happened to Toothless? He was fighting machamp alone! Where are my pokemons? Are they alright?!

"VEL! JUST CALM DOWN! BREATHE!"

I finally opened my eyes as I saw a tired and haggard looking Vance staring at me in concern from where I was laying down on a bed. A hospital, I had somehow ended up in a hospital.

"Vance..." My throat was hoarse as I tried to speak. How many days has it been? Vance quickly supported my body and helped me to sit up and lean on the headboard of my hospital bed and gave me a glass of water to drink. I drank it quickly despite holding the glass with my clumsy fingers, which is still shaking from long periods of misuse. I don't care. I need to know what happened to my team.

"Your team is alright, Vel. They are safe. I managed to reach them in time."

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I cried. I rarely cried in front of anyone. I don't like to cry. It solves nothing. Crying is a display of weakness that I do not want to show to anyone, even to my own family. But I couldn't care less. My team is safe. They are _safe_.

Vance gave me a hug as he rubbed circles on my back with his hands. "Your absol and pupitar suffered a bit of damage but the nurses fixed them. They are still in intensive care but they are awake and fine, just strapped onto their beds and not allowed to move. They will make a full recovery. I found the rest of your pokemons and brought them with me. You are in Ever Grande Hospital now. You have been asleep for a week."

"How many?"

"Vel?"

"How many died."

Vance was silent, but I could feel the slight tightening of his grip on me.

"We counted 8 LSDF officers, 5 Rangers, and about 25 trainers that had died trying to defend Lilycove. The total death toll in Lilycove is high, the bulk of the casualties were civilians who were on the beach. Many of them didn't get to safety in time, or the shelters nearby were full so they have to find somewhere else to hide but they got picked off by aquas along the way. We haven't finish tallying the total number of casualties. Some of the bodies are still being found in all the wreckage."

"I don't know about the civilians, but. But. Th-That's about the whole lot of them, Vance. The defense force. Th-there-Our numbers definitely didn't hit over fifty. There were only slightly above forty of us, max, over there trying to hold the aquas off. There were at least a hundred of them, and then there were more that popped up later. W-Why? Why would they want to invade Lilycove?"

Vance said nothing for a short while as he continued to hug me before speaking softly. "You nearly died yourself, Vel. Worry about yourself for once. I am not blaming you, but what were you doing out there? Why aren't you at the shelter? You are too young for this. You are only twelve."

"I was too close to the beach, Vance. I was the first one to spot the salamence firing the Draco Meteor that destroyed the LSDF office. I tried to stop them, I REALLY tried, Vance. B-but I FAILED. I-I..."

"Shhh. It's alright. Everything's alright now." Vance held me tighter as he gently rocked me. "You did great. Many of the officers in the building died in the initial attack, but there are those that survived as well, thanks to you. Wallace had informed the war council what had happened, he told me what you did. You did the correct thing in contacting him. You are the reason why we responded to the situation as fast as we did. All forms of communication were somehow cut off during aqua's siege on Lilycove. The aquas didn't want any reinforcements from the league to arrive. The LSDF were grateful for your intervention to intercept the Draco Meteor, you prevented the officers stationed at Lilycove from being totally wiped out. Nobody blames you." Vance gently pulled me away and looked me in the eyes. "You saved Lilycove."

I could care less who saved Lilycove as long as it was saved. But.

"W-war? A war council?"

Vance looked grim. "Yes, Vel. A war council. If Team Aqua could pull something off like this and catch us all off guard, who's to say it won't happen to the other cities as well? Lilycove was the only city to get invaded this time but the attack put the whole world on guard. Something like this hasn't happened in a very long time. If Team Aqua has the strength to invade a city, what about Team Magma? Those two groups are supposedly equal in strength. Wallace put the whole of Hoenn on Code Red. Nobody is allowed to come and leave Hoenn unless given permission by the league. Lethal force is now authorised when dealing with aquas and magmas. The other regions are on lockdown as well, this invasion had them trying to find out if such a thing could happen on their own soil. The whole world is afraid."

Vance shifted himself to sit beside me on the bed as we leaned back on the bed's headrest. He put a comforting arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him, but there's still a nagging question in my mind that I cannot put off. I need an answer.

"Vance, has anyone found out the purpose of their attack?"

Vance remained silent. He knew, but he couldn't tell me.

"Vance."

"You know I cannot tell you, Vel."

"I'm one of the few surviving members of the defense force that helped defend Lilycove. I was there. If anyone can help in figuring out their motives, it will be me."

Vance's lip pulled into a thin line. He's hesitating.

"DON'T tell anyone else what I told you. This is just between you and me." He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "We think they are looking for an artifact, or something similar from what we know from the aqua grunts we captured. The problem is that these grunts don't know what exactly it is, only their admins knew and we didn't managed to catch the admins. The grunts were mainly tasked with attacking Lilycove. The admins escaped before we can catch them. It's like they just disappeared. They couldn't have teleported, we made sure of it. It's hard to achieve, but there are ways to prevent pokemon from using Teleport with dark type techniques. We used that in ACE all the time. The aquas didn't go underwater, Wallace was there. We really don't know where they went. They just...vanish, and left us without clues on why and how they attacked Lilycove. The grunts got killed by a psychic trigger planted in their minds the moment we probed it for details, especially when it comes to finding the location of their base. The trigger was planted by a powerful psychic pokemon that was meant to destroy the brain of whoever it was implanted into. I'm guessing it was an application of Future Sight, and it made us lose all of our leads. Aquas and magmas are extremists and they will sacrifice their lives for their suicidal beliefs, there's no way we can make them spill out the information willingly." Vance ran his hand through his hair once more. "We speculated that the aquas thought that the artifact was at Lilycove. But what kind of artifact? Why was it so important that they were willing to lay siege on Lilycove at the expense of the wrath of the entire region? We don't know. The only good thing is that we know for sure that they didn't find whatever they were looking for. The league wanted to try and find the artifact as well so that we can protect it and prevent whatever these lunatics are planning from becoming real. But there's just no clue."

I narrowed my eyes in thought. Why the hell was the entire thing...I don't know. It felt familiar. Why? Team Aqua disappeared? How did they even appear in the first place? Assuming that they didn't use Teleport? If they did not use Teleport it means that they probably have a place to gather their forces before attacking Lilycove with their numbers. They appeared undetected. Lilycove is not Slateport, but it is well-protected nonetheless simply by housing one of the two harbours in Hoenn. It seemed absurd that the entire LSDF stationed at Lilycove did not sense their approach. To launch such an assault, Team Aqua would need a base, somewhere large-

 _ **POKEMONEMERALD** TEAMMAGMA **MTCHIMNEY** MTPYRE **ORBS** TO **AWAKEN** GROUDONANDKYOGRE **TEAMAQUA** BASEAT_

 **Lilycove.**

Team Aqua's base was at _Lilycove_.

WHERE?! I have played the damn game before! Where was it! I KNOW it's at Lilycove somewhere, the invasion proved it so-

Dolly.

Could it be? No, it has to be. Dolly had sensed them. She was attuned to negative emotions as a shuppet, that ability shouldn't have diminished when she evolved into a banette.

"Vel? Breathe, Vel. It's alright now, I'm here."

Yes, Vance is here. I need to know. He can help.

"Vance. Are the rumours true? That the aim of Team Magma and Team Aqua is to awaken Groudon and Kyogre?"

"Why are you-"

"Answer me. I think I might have gotten on to something."

"...Yes. The rumours are true."

"I think I have figured out how they managed to come and go without leaving any trace. But I need Dolly and Rena. Where are they?"

Vance's eyes widened in shock. "Vel, how-"

"Where. Are. They."

Vance's eyes turned unnaturally serious, and at the point I knew that I'm not talking to Vance Vera, my lovable and idiotic older brother. I'm talking to Vance from ACE, one of their strongest operatives.

"Macky, bring Dolly and Rena here."

I heard a cackle from Vance's shadow, and Dolly and Rena appeared shortly afterwards when Dolly brought themselves in with a Shadow Sneak.

 _'Mistress!'_

Rena and Dolly jumped up onto my bed and snuggled up to me and I held them tightly in my arms. They are alive. But there is something I really need to ask Dolly right now. I need to confirm something.

"I'm fine, sorry for worrying y'all. Rena, Dolly, there's something urgent that I need to confirm and I need your help right now. Rena, I need you to help me translate Dolly's words for me, can you help me?"

 _'Your wish is my command, Mistress.'_

I turned to Dolly. "Dolly, remember the time we spent on Lilycove's beach? You kept wanting to bring me close to a large rock. Why?"

Dolly chattered agitatedly as Rena translated her words.

 _'She says that she felt people inside, she never felt something like that before other than the time at the...she called it a fire-breathing mountain? She thought the rock was interesting, it had the ability to muffle her senses although she can still vaguely sense people in them. It's like they are there but not there at the same time, and she can't tell if they are evil or not because her senses are partially blocked. However, she found out during our last battle that these are the same people that harmed you. She would have gone back to kill them herself, but we are too far away now to do anything.'_

Shit. Team Aqua is really hiding in a rock, somehow. But that rock cannot fit a hundred people even when hollowed out, it's large but not that huge. Unless they somehow created space inside the rock like how pokeballs store pokemon, but the technology progression in this world had not progressed to that level yet. Unless it's a pokemon move that can create-

Shit. There really is one.

"Dolly, by fire-breathing mountain do you mean Mt Chimney? Do you feel exactly the same thing as that rock at Lilycove? Was it the cliff that you pointed to me?"

Vance was trying very hard to follow our conversation as he was not privy to the telepathic communication that Rena had set up for my sole use in communicating with her. But he knew that I knew something no one does.

Dolly nodded furiously and I never saw her so angry before. I slumped back onto the headrest of my bed in cold sweat.

We were at the front of the base of both Team Magma and Team Aqua once. We were fucking lucky to be alive.

"Vel?"

"Vance, how much do you know about the shuppet species."

"How is that impor-"

"Ghosts are naturally attracted to dark thoughts, but none are as attuned to it as shuppets. The shuppet species feed on dark and negative emotions, they are naturally better in sensing these thoughts than any other ghosts. Assuming that this ability does not diminish or disappear when they evolve into a banette, they can possibly sense threats even before they appear. Magmas and aquas would had emitted negative emotions in waves given what they usually did, it allowed Dolly to find the base of Team Magma and Team Aqua by total accident with the trait found in their species. The shuppet line is not popular among humans and trainers. They are ghosts, which naturally made them unpopular among humans as companions. They aren't that strong in battle compared to other species of ghosts, like Macky. So they aren't popular with trainers, who usually only wanted strong pokemons like a salamence. It's just not a worthy investment for most trainers to tame a wild ghost, when they can tame another wild ghost, like a gengar or dusclops, for example, that are known to be more powerful as a species. I haven't met a single trainer that have shuppets or banettes with them, such occurrences are rare. To sense the aqua's or magma's base you probably need a pokemon with similar abilities to Dolly and to be at the right place at the right time. So that's why nobody sensed the base of the aquas or magmas."

"YOU found their base?"

"Dolly found them, not me. I didn't recognise it at that point in time. All I see were rocks. What can you tell me about the move Secret Power."

"It's a move that is almost extinct. The remaining few trainers that have the knowledge on how to use this move guard it jealously, no one knew who most of them are. These moves are largely passed down in secret among family members for generations, outsiders have little hope in trying to learn it. There are only maybe one or two of such trainers under the league's forces. But Secret Power is not that strong in battle and the effects depended very heavily on the terrain the pokemon is in."

"There's another effect of using that move. You will know if you read _'The History of Pokemon Moves And How It Worked'_ by researcher Joe Hardrock who published it a 100 years ago. Ask Roxanne if her clan still has the research papers. Secret Power can allow pokemons to create their own secret space within rocks or trees. I mean like an entire different space, like how pokeballs can store pokemons despite being smaller than the size of our palms. If a highly trained pokemon knew Secret Power, imagine the space that it would be capable of creating. It can hide hundreds of people right under your nose. It's most likely how Team Aqua appeared unannounced and disappeared without a trace."

Vance was silent and expressionless the entire time but his eyes betrayed his shock.

"Dolly found a large rock during our second day in Lilycove on the beach. She sensed people in there but she cannot tell if they are good or evil. The distortion of space from Secret Power dulled her senses. She wanted to bring me there to see if I could find anything out of the ordinary about it, but it looked normal to me and I didn't bother to translate her words with Rena's help at that time, I thought she just found something interesting. I just wanted to relax on the beach so I didn't think too much about it. Dolly just confirmed that these people were the aquas that attacked Lilycove, she said it explicitly. She had a similar reaction when we were back on Mt Chimney. There was a cliff that brought about the same reactions from her. I don't think that's where Team Aqua's base is considering it's Mt Chimney and the aquas wanted to revive Kyogre, so I'm guessing the cliff at Mt Chimney belongs to Team Magma. The logic will fit. Groudon, Team Magma's ideology to expand lands, and a volcano. It has to be Team Magma. In summary, Team Aqua's base is at a rock situated near the end of Lilycove's beach, Team Magma's base is on a cliff at Mt Chimney."

"Vel, you aren't pulling my leg, aren't you?"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I WOULD JOKE ABOUT **THIS** , VANCE VERA?"

"No, you wouldn't." Vance covered his face with his palm. "But damn, that would explain why we never found their base of operations."

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. Should I tell him about the orbs? I never played pokemon ruby or sapphire so I don't know the plot in those games, but in pokemon emerald, either Team Magma or Team Aqua found the orbs. I can't remember who, but they did find them eventually. That artifact they were talking about were probably the orbs. Lilycove and Mt Pyre were situated near to each other, Team Aqua's information about its location isn't that far from where it actually is.

Argh, screw the original plot and the stories. If these loonies really managed to awaken those two titans the entire world will collapse. We cannot rely on Rayquaza to save our asses, we don't even know whether Sky Pillar is its real home. Even if that sky dragon did help save our ass, too many people and pokemon would have died.

"Vance. I think I know what the artifact is. I know where it is. In fact, there's two of them."

"Vel? What? How? I mean-"

I gestured for Macky to knock him on the head just as how we always did at home. It never failed to get Vance's attention back on track.

"Mt Pyre. I visited Mt Pyre before coming to Lilycove because it was most likely Dolly's birthplace. I met Agatha there, the Agatha who was once part of the Indigo's Elite Four. We found an ancient mural with drawings of Groudon and Kyogre, there's no doubt about what it was depicting. It showed a massive fight between the two of them. That's not the important part. There were two orbs, one ruby red, the other sapphire blue, at the base of the mural. We don't know what it does, only that it is definitely related to the two legendaries. Personally? I think that each orb has the power to control one of the above legendaries. Maybe the red one for Groudon and blue for Kyogre, or the other way round. I don't know, I don't want to know. I promised Agatha to keep my mouth shut. We agreed that it's better to let them be and remain unknown to the entire world. But the attack on Lilycove showed that Team Aqua's information is not that far from the truth. There IS an artifact and Lilycove is not that far from Mt Pyre. The orbs will be found sooner or later at this rate. We need to hide the orbs and keep this information away from as many people as possible. You are the only person I trust now. The only other person I think you should share this information with is Wallace. Let him retrieve the orbs alone, the orbs held powers and it's definitely not ordinary. I think you need someone with very strong willpower to even touch it. It nearly mind-controlled me when I first saw it and I was standing a few feet away. Make sure you have strong pokemons from each category of the Mind Arts Trio to protect your mind just in case. I don't know what will happen if or when someone touches the orbs. Just don't touch them with your bare hands."

I finished my explanation and I never felt so mentally exhausted in my entire life here. Pokemon emerald. Most likely, the game verse still held true here, at least to an extent. I'm not sure if the invasion of Lilycove happened in the game, I can't remember most of my past life now, but the happenings thus far showed that certain aspects of the plot that made pokemon emerald as it is still held true. I have the foreknowledge, I can help save things. The plot will be screwed now once I told Vance, but I couldn't care. More people might die if no one could prevent Team Magma and Team Aqua from achieving their goals. These people are extremists, they are so loyal to their beliefs that they have no qualms doing atrocious stuffs.

I don't want anymore people to die after what happened at Lilycove. I hated death. I hate conflicts. I was lucky to be reborn, but what about the innocents that died in Lilycove?

"I will need to extract your memories to verify them, Vel. No one will believe your stories even if I do. Your words won't be enough. They will want your memories as proof."

"I only trust Rena to do it." Rena will make sure to not extract anything more than is strictly necessary. I want to bring the secret of my reincarnation to my grave.

"Ask her to transfer your memories about what you just spoke about to me. The league can extract my memories after that."

I leaned in to Vance, who held me, and Dolly pushed herself closer trying to hug and comfort me. I returned my thanks to her with a smile. I turned to Rena, who was sitting by my side.

"Rena, do it."

* * *

It's true.

Velda's words were true. Not that Vance ever doubted her, but Velda's memories that were copied by Rena and transferred to his mind verified every single thing that Velda had said. He himself had went to verify some of the facts. He teleported to Mt Chimney with gallade and sneaked up close to the cliff Velda had mentioned. Macky had confirmed that something's _in_ there even if he does not know what or who it is, just that there were many individuals. He checked with the Hardrock clan with Roxanne's help, Secret Power really has the ability to create space within solid objects. He went to Mt Pyre, followed the path shown in Velda's memories and saw the orbs but heeded Velda's warning and backed off for now. He doesn't want to mess with anything that has to do with legendaries just yet.

The worst part? The whole scenario Velda had deduced is entirely possible. The most pressing issue is that Team Magma and Team Aqua could very possibly hide in solid objects with Secret Power right under their very noses.

It's a weird feeling seeing Velda's life and memories through her eyes, even if Rena only extracted the relevant portions needed to convince the league officials that _yes_ , Velda had really found the base of operations of the magmas and aquas. Funny how she always teased him for being a trouble magnet. The trouble she got herself into this time could have got herself killed without her even knowing why.

Velda could have died.

Death is an occupational hazard that comes with being a trainer. The death rate of trainers have been brought to an all-time low but the risk will always be there no matter how small it is. Their family accepted it when he and Velda both became trainers, but they never expect the risk to make itself known in such a manner.

His parents were worried sick about Velda but they weren't allowed to visit her just yet. Even Ever Grande is on lockdown. He himself can come and go freely only because of his status as an ACE operative.

The world went crazy when news of the attack was announced. Various reporters tried to get the news from the survivors, which wasn't much. Those at the shelters don't know anything much other than the salamence's attack. Those who were helping to defend mostly died in battle or succumbed to their wounds much later. Only Velda and a few of the defenders were alive and even then they don't have the full picture. The league had also tried to control the media, they don't want a mayhem to happen on top of whatever they urgently need to do now. No one really knew what exactly happened except that Team Aqua had attacked Lilycove.

There were just too little clues to follow.

Until Velda woke up, pieced whatever little information they both knew about 15 minutes after her awakening, and put together the most probable picture of what exactly happened. She deduced the how and the why with minimal help of his own.

That's his little sister.

Vance still couldn't help but frown. Orbs. Two orbs that according to Velda's guess, could probably hold the power to control one legendary each. It is a scary thought. If the aquas had gotten hold what they were looking for...

No, that wouldn't happen. He and Velda know where the artifacts are now. Velda had figured out their secrets, they have the upper hand now.

He reached the door of Wallace's office and knocked.

"Come in."

Vance entered and saw a tired looking Wallace going through war plans and papers. He has been running himself ragged trying to keep the whole of Hoenn in one piece. Steven is helping as well, but he was tasked with the protection of Mossdeep and Ever Grande since Wallace is trying to figure out where the aquas went.

Wallace spoke without even looking up, something very uncharacteristic from his usual polite self.

"What is it, Vance. I'm busy."

Vance stood straight at attention. They may not be in uniform now but they are still ACE operatives. His posture immediately got Wallace's attention, and Vance saluted.

"Sir. My younger sister, Velda Vera, and a survivor who had helped defended Lilycove had figured out the how, and why Team Aqua attacked. She deduced the most probable places where Team Aqua AND Team Magma built their base of operations. She found out a big secret of Hoenn's legendaries that we absolutely have to protect. I have extracted her memories with her permission, and I am ready to offer my mind for the viewing under the help of psychic pokemons. I have verified and checked through the information myself before coming here. What she deduced is most likely correct. This is our chance, sir. We can finally counter-attack."

Wallace stood up, and faced him.

"Call out your gallade. Show me the memories."

They have the upper hand now, it's time for a counter-attack.

* * *

"Coming!"

Flanney's houndoom, Gavin, stood protectively beside her as she opened the door to her house. To her credit, she only raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the sight of an ACE operative standing outside her door, fully masked and geared.

"I am ACE operative Phantom of Ghost Company. Gym leader Flannery, your help is being requested by both the league and ACE. I was told that you were informed to be on standby."

"Yeah, I am on standby. Standby for what? No clue. The league only told me to be on standby and to ban any visitors to Mt Chimney for the period, saying it's too dangerous for people to travel there given how Hoenn is now. Sounded like a whole lot of crap to me, but I know better than to question further. They didn't tell me what else to prepare for just that I have to be on standby. Come in. I don't think we want our conversation to be heard."

The two of them entered into Flannery's home, and Phantom wasted no time in talking the moment the door to her house was closed.

"Prepare your full body armour. We found Team Magma's base on Mt Chimney. We are going to destroy it."

Phantom watched as Flannery's eyes widened in shock as her houndoom growled. Flannery clenched her fists as her voice rose slightly.

"Team MAGMA? Here on MT CHIMNEY?! Right under our very noses? Thousands of tourists flocked there every year for Arceus's sake! And _no one_ knew about it the whole time?!"

"We only just got the information ourselves two days ago, and only managed to recently confirm the validity of the information and organise the force necessary to take them down. It's time for our counter-attack. We need your help, Flannery. We need the power of a gym leader."

"You stay right here. Give me a few minutes to get changed and retrieve my pokemon."

ACE operative Phantom watched as Flannery went up to her room to change, and walked down the stairs from the second floor of her house and stood in front of him decked out in a full armoured body suit about five minutes later. She also wore a helmet, similar to those worn by motorcyclist, with a darkened visor that covered Phantom's view of Flannery's face.

"Lead the way, operative."

The two of them exited Flannery's house and walked in comfortable silence for a while with Phantom leading the way. The silence is a little uncomfortable for Flannery, so she decided to make small talk with operative Phantom.

"What's your name? Have we met before in a gym battle?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you my name. It's against the rules we set in ACE. But no, we haven't met in a gym battle before. I haven't met you before this meeting. I got my fourth gym badge from your grandfather, the previous Lavaridge gym leader. My sister has high praises of you though. She said you were the inspiration for some of the rock type techniques she helped create for her team to counter water type attacks."

Flannery's voice went higher than usual. "Praise me for _rock type_ techniques? Excuse me, but the last time I checked I'm a _Fire_ Specialist. You know, fire as in the red thing that burns? I can understand if people praise and worship me for my fire techniques, but _rock_ type? What did I do? What did your sister say exactly that I'm the inspiration for inventing _rock_ type techniques."

The operative snorted. "Can't really remember, that was quite some time ago. Something about your magcargo defending itself from Bigblu-" The operative abruptly stopped himself, and Flannery could hear him muttered a quiet 'Shit' under his breath. The operative had said too much that could have revealed his true identity.

Flannery grinned. She knew who she was talking to now. There was only one pokemon with the nickname of Bigblue and had faced her magcargo in battle. No way would she be forgetting that anytime soon. That battle was one of the most memorable battle she had as a gym leader.

"Tell your sister I said thank you for the praise, and that I said hello to her as well, _Vera_."

The operative grumbled something inaudible under his breath, but didn't say anything else.

"How is she doing? We haven't called each other in a long time." Flannery missed the young Vera. She knew Velda had an older brother but they didn't talk much about him in their calls. She never expected to meet him in this manner.

The operative went silent again and this time Flannery felt a little uneasy. Did something happen to Velda again? Did her body give her problems again?

"She was at Lilycove."

Flannery's jaws dropped behind the large visor of her helmet that covered her entire face. _Velda_ was at _Lilycove_? It's a warzone there!

"She's fine, if you want to know. She's awake now, but very shaken by what she experienced. She was part of the temporary defense force that stayed back voluntarily and helped hold back Team Aqua until we came. She almost died. I watched as my comrade took her away in a Teleport while she's soaked in her own blood. She would have died if her espeon didn't manage to contact and find me with a public link when I arrived. She-" The operative caught his breath and clenched his fist. "Sorry. It's just that-"

"No, it's fine. I'm just glad she's alive. No one should have gone through that, much less Velda."

"From what I know from Vel's espeon, the charmander you gave her had willingly evolved into a charizard in that battle. It evolved to save her. Thank you, for giving Toothless to her."

"No biggie. I knew they are good for each other when I first saw her. I'm glad I was right."

They didn't say anything else as they had reached a hidden clearing at the foot of Mt Chimney. A large group of ACE operatives was stationed there in an orderly manner and awaiting instructions. A familiar figure was at the front, and obviously the commanding officer of this operation. That fellow was masked and wore a full body armour as well. He had several pokemons around him and there's no mistaking that monster of a slaking.

"Norman? Is that you?"

"Flannery? Yes, it's me, Norman. I have been temporarily called back into service as are many retired operatives that were able to help out in this time of crisis. Thank you for coming."

Flannery looked at Norman and then at the rest of the people around her. So THIS is ACE. She knew Norman was from ACE, but she didn't know exactly what it means. She herself had served in LSDF for a few short years before retiring from its service to be a gym leader. She didn't know Norman was actually qualified enough to lead so many operatives on missions.

Just how strong is this guy? If the higher ups are willing to give him so much power and authority over their elites, what had he achieved in ACE for them to have so much confidence in him?

"I have already briefed everyone here except for you, Flannery. So I'm going through the plan again. The aim of this mission is to destroy Team Magma's hideout. We have already confirmed the exact location with numerous ghosts and psychics. They have hidden themselves with the elusive move called Secret Power, and that's why no one had found their base so far. Apparently it has the effect of allowing the user to create a different space inside solid objects and it is possible to hide hundreds of people in it. We have located them now, and it's best to strike when they are still unaware that we have already found them. Operative Phantom will be with you for this operation to protect you. We need your help, but we cannot have our gym leaders dying no matter how slim the chances are. The masses will panic. I have a guard to protect me as well. Steven and Winona will be attacking Team Aqua's base any moment now. We had timed for both operations to happen at the same time. Wallace is on another top-secret mission on his own. Unfortunately, we have no idea on who or what to expect when we enter the magma's base. So prepare yourself for anything. Lethal force is allowed, the league had approved it against magmas and aquas. Kill them if you are not confident to take prisoners without them retaliating. Protocol M is also approved, so don't hesitate to go all out if you feel you need it." Just as he said it, Norman's kangaskhan moved closer by his side, its claws holding and showing her the brightly coloured stone in its possession before putting it into its pouch.

Mega evolution. The Hoenn League had deemed the situation serious enough to authorise the use of mega evolution.

Flannery nodded at Norman's words. The situation is bad, even more than she initially thought it was. The league had actually approved the use of mega evolution, one of the most tightly guarded secrets that PWL had guarded for centuries, for this mission. Usually, only the thirteen pillars of the respective regions will be allowed the possession of a mega stone and they would not usually have more than two of those. Most of them had only one. The public is not allowed to know about their existence. Only high ranking officials and trainers under their respective leagues will be allowed to know the existence of mega evolution but nothing more than knowing its existence. Even then, they were only given a vague description. She knew that sometimes ACE operatives, or high ranking members of LSDF or Rangers would be loaned a stone or two for their missions. But those cases are rare and these members are sworn to secrecy. Anyone who leaked the knowledge or existence of mega evolution to the public will be severely dealt with and punishable by death according to the law.

That's just how dangerous mega evolution is.

"We still have five minutes. Take this time to prepare. Phantom can brief you along the way the other things you might want to know about."

* * *

"Are you sure this is - _Charlie Flamethrower!_ \- the right way to go?!"

"Is there any other way that you - _Watch it!_ \- see?!"

"NO! But HOW on earth did we get SEPARATED from the rest of the group?! There were at least 40 of us!"

"We were ordered to - _TAKE DOWN THAT GRAVELER SCEPTILE!_ \- clear the damn - _GET THEM OFF US ELECTIVIRE!_ \- BLOODY WAY FOR THE REST OF THE GROUP!"

"Doesn't explain how we got lost!"

"It's perfectly - _ARGH DUCKKK!_ \- NORMAL FOR ME!"

Vance barely had time as he forcefully pushed Flannery, who was standing beside him, down as they both hide behind a huge boulder within Team Magma's hideout. A stray flamethrower from a magma's numel shot at the spot where their heads were a second ago. There were simply too many enemies! Doesn't matter how good your pokemon is at single battles, all it takes is a lucky shot from a single zubat out of a group of a hundred of them to put you down. The caves were small and there's a limit to how many pokemon they can release in the tunnel if they do not want to friendly-fire each other. The magmas had no such considerations. They simply attacked anything that got in their way, friends and foes alike. He couldn't destroy the magmas like how Wallace destroyed the aquas on Lilycove's beach, doing the same thing will just bring the whole volcano crashing down on them. Vance absentmindedly tighten the grip of his hand on Flannery's shoulder which he used to push her down. He should have just gave the memory to Norman and went to finish off the aquas instead. What possessed him to volunteer to come here anyway?

"Don't TOUCH me THERE!"

Vance barely had time to turn around before he was hit in the face and landed on the ground. He looked up and saw a very angry and embarrassed Flannery, who was suddenly hugging her arms protectively around her chest. Vance took a look at his right hand which he used to push down what he thought was Flannery's shoulder. From the looks of it, what he touched _probably_ wasn't her shoulder. Did he..?

 _Oops._

"Uh... I'm sorry?"

"LOOK OUT!"

Vance instinctively rolled himself towards Flannery before throwing himself prone on the ground behind another boulder beside her. A speedy rock powered by a Rock Throw left a crater where he was lying down prior. Thank Arceus for the abundance of boulders here, they make good hiding spots.

"HEY! I almost died there! Can you save the face-hitting for later?!"

"You DESERVE it! And I WARNED you, didn't I"

"I COULD have died!"

"But you didn't! And where are we?!"

"I don't know! We were supposed to just clear the way for the rest to follow! Maybe we were too fast for the group?"

Vance and Flannery emerged from their hiding spots as their pokemons just finished putting down the magmas that they were facing. The interior of the base is a networks of tunnels that led to many different caves. Norman had borrowed a pokemon that knew Secret Power from a trainer that was in the league's employment ( _thank the stars that there were a few trainers employed by the league with pokemons that knew Secret Power_ ) to open up the entrance to Team Magma's base. After storming through the entrance of Team Magma's base, there were two tunnels to follow. Norman simply sent Flannery and Vance to the left tunnel while he proceeded to travel using the one on the right, and the remaining ACE forces split evenly among themselves and followed them.

This is the eighth cave they had cleared since the start of the operation about 15 minutes ago. Where's everyone?

"Phantom!"

Ah, there they are.

"You are late, Charcoal."

"You guys are too fast! Do you know the meaning of slowing down?! I know you guys are good but not everyone are like you two!"

Vance simply shrugged. "Eh, you will get used to it soon enough. My comrades from Ghost got used to it within a week."

Operative Charcoal wanted to facepalm, but his palm stopped halfway when he realised his combat mask was in the way. He let out a frustrated sound. "I still don't know why you are the only one from Ghost Company that came here. Isn't your entire company with Steven demolishing aqua's base?"

"I'm the only one who knew the exact position of the cliff other than Wallace and he's on another mission. The rock at Lilycove isn't hard to recognise. This cliff is. I was the one who extracted the memory from our information source. I'm the only one who can lead us to the correct cliff."

The main group that initially followed Flannery and Vance had caught up by now, and they all proceeded to walk deeper into the tunnels with Vance and Flannery leading the way.

"Charcoal, how many casualties do we have on our side so far?"

"None. You guys took care of at least half of the magmas on your own, we didn't have much to deal with. Did your gengar sense anything else?"

As it turns out, ghosts were better suited to sense their opponents in this operation. Team Magma had precautions to prevent enemy psychic pokemons from finding out their location, but they forgot to account for the fact that ghosts can sense them as well. Ghosts don't have senses as accurate as psychics, but it was good enough to pinpoint the general direction of where the main bulk of them are.

The amount of negative thoughts they emitted is like a beacon for any ghosts in their group.

"Macky, did you find anything else?"

Flannery watched in curiosity as a purplish paw simply emerged from Vance's shadows and pointed to a smaller tunnel that branched off from the main tunnel on their right side.

Flannery watched in amused shock when the paw then begin to extend itself to Vance in a ' _I want my reward now_ ' manner. Vance gave a resigned sigh as he simply fished out a pecha berry ( _where did he keep it in his body suit?_ ) and dropped it into the waiting paw. The paw grabbed the pecha berry before disappearing back to the shadows. A loud munching sound came from the shadows immediately and the seeds were soon spat out onto the floor. The shadow burped.

"HAHAHA! Your ghost had you whipped!"

"He didn't have me whipped. My sister spoiled him. She always give him pecha berries whenever they meet, now he won't stop asking for them. Tells me to reward him with it for every little thing he did for me."

"I'd heard from others in Ghost that you were a siscon, Phantom. I never expect it to be true. Everything we talked about somehow comes back to your sister."

"Shut it, Charcoal."

Following the small tunnel Macky had pointed, they reached a fork. One tunnel led to the left, the other one to the right. Both tunnels led downwards deeper into the volcano.

"Macky."

Two paws appeared from Vance's shadow this time and Macky pointed to both tunnels.

"So the magmas are in both tunnels, eh? Which one has more of them?"

The right paw slunk back into his shadows while the left paw remained pointed to the left tunnel.

"Right. Charcoal, I can't leave Flannery's side, and the both of us can handle ourselves. You take the rest of our men and storm the right side. It will be faster that way."

"Got it, you guys stay safe."

"You too. Come on, little missy, let's get going."

The only reply Vance got was a hit to the back of his head that almost sent him rolling down the left tunnel.

* * *

Vance peered below into the cave he and Flannery had stumbled into from their hiding spot up above. He should have asked Macky if he knew the exact number of magmas they were expecting before going down the left tunnel.

Fifty. Vance counted at least fifty of these bastards. Assuming each of them has six pokemon each it will be 300 pokemons that they will have to deal with at the minimum. Vel said that there were at least a hundred aquas at Lilycove when they first appeared, didn't she? So she would have at least faced off 600 pokemons with the defense force, and that is a very optimistic estimate. Many trainers have more than six pokemons, the aquas had to have at least ten pokemons each since they made up for their lack of quality with quantity. The defense force only had around forty people. A large number of it were made up of volunteer trainers and they mostly only have about an average of three gym badges from what he saw from the KIA list, the number of pokemons on the defense force's side probably added up to around 300, at the best. So only about 300 or less pokemons on their side to face off at least 600, no, probably at least 1,000 pokemons from team aquas.

Less than 300 against more than 1,000. Team Aqua also had the element of surprise while Lilycove was unprepared. No wonder so many people died.

The only good thing right now was that this cave that he and Flannery found themselves in is a very large one. That means they can finally cut loose. They are also hidden from view undetected up above a rocky ledge, which means they have the element of surprise as well.

From where they were hidden above, Flannery's torkoal withdrew into its shell as it spun itself at high speeds and launched itself downwards into the mass of magmas, knocking them aside like a spinning top. It stopped its spin at the middle of the surprised group of magmas before it released a huge Inferno that cut off the entire group, creating a wall of flames and splitting the magmas into two groups on the left and right side respectively.

"Hey, siscon." Vance could feel his fingers twitching the moment he heard the 'S' word. She wouldn't stop calling him that the moment she heard Charcoal called him with that 'S' word. "How about a little competition? The one who took a lesser time to destroy the magmas on their side would get to ask the loser to do one thing, one thing that the loser cannot refuse. How about it?"

Despite having a darkened visor that covered his view of Flannery's face thanks to her helmet, Vance could swear that Flannery was grinning. Well, they have to destroy these bastards anyway, might as well have some fun while they are at it. He swore that he would make the aqua scums pay in blood back at Lilycove, but the number of aquas he decimated back there still wasn't enough to quench his rage. He wanted to annihilate more of them. That is not possible now seeing that he is currently at Team Magma's base, but the magmas are a good enough substitute for the aquas.

"Get ready to lose then, missy. I will take the right side. You take the left."

On an unspoken signal, Vance and Flannery released their entire team. He saw Flannery releasing a charizard, magcargo, houndoom, camerupt, arcanine, flareon, infernape, and a chandelure on top of her already released torkoal, who was already decimating its foes on the left side.

Wait a sec.

"HEY! No one says start yet! You are cheating! I want a reset! A reset!"

"Too late, siscon! What do you want Charlie to do? Stand there and take a beating? Hurry it up already! I want to hurry and go back and take a bath! I'm smelly and sticky and sweaty from all the heat in this volcano!"

Flannery's pokemons took this as a cue to charge down and decimate their foes. Picking up on the situation, Vance's pokemons did the same as well as they went in to wreck havoc, the bigger and more destructive ones were eager to be finally let out, the small caves that they had passed by earlier weren't suited to fit their large size.

Vance watched as Flannery's flareon stood by her side as a guard while it sniped magmas and their pokemons with precise blasts of fire, her houndoom snarled as it tore the throats of the enemy's pokemons and burned them alive. Camerupt simply bellowed and moved through the crowd, its large size crushing anyone who were too slow in getting away, its volcanoes on its backs spewing flaming rocks that hit its foes with pinpoint accuracy even without looking. Infernape simply scaled the rock walls with its hands and feet as it shot large cones of fire down onto its enemies below, her chandelure appeared before large group of pokemons and burned them with ghostly fires while they screamed in pain. Her magcargo sent sharp rocks set alight with fire shooting at its foes. Her charizard's a monster. It simply blasted through the crowd and sent their burnt corpses flying with Blast Burns after Blast Burns without having a need to recharge. Her arcanine ran at high speeds around the perimeter of the group Flannery was in charge of, boxing them in and ensuring none of the magmas could get out.

Vance turned back to look at his side of the battle.

His magmortar is by his side as his arms had turned into what he called 'cannon form'. Like Flannery's flareon, he acted as his guard and simply blasted the foes with intense flames. His weavile was laughing madly as it slit the throats of whatever pokemons it could find, the heat of the volcano not affecting it in the slightest despite it being an ice type. His electivire coated itself in an armour of electricity as it punched its opponents left and right while releasing the occasional huge blasts of Discharge. His sceptile and gallade worked together like a duo of expert swordsmen, slicing any opposition they faced into halves while running through the crowd. His metagross floated slightly off the ground with Magnet Rise and raised a shield of Reflect in front of it before dashing into the crowd of magmas like a speeding truck, smashing its foes into lumps of meat. It was a move that was inspired by Velda's Battering Ram, but she preferred to use the Protect version of it. His salamence sent out waves of draconic fire and pulses, clawing and crunching anyone that got too close. It does not even bother to fly when dealing with these low lives. They are not worthy enough for him to use his wings. Walrein simply raised itself off the ground with a huge chunk of ice that formed beneath it before unleashing a massive wave of Surf on the magmas, sending them crashing into the walls of the cave, ending their lives instantly. Macky dove in and out of the shadows, launching Shadow Balls and punching his paws through the bodies of his prey with Shadow Punch.

Vance's team were doing a good job at cleaning up their side of their battle rapidly, but Flannery is faster. Her fire type attacks are naturally good at AOE and crowd control, which is perfect for their situation. Crap, she just tricked him into a bet that she knew she would definitely win, didn't she?

Time to even the odds a little.

"Hey salamence! Just use a Draco Meteor or something already! Flannery's winning!"

"Are you CRAZY?! We are in a CAVE-"

Whatever Flannery was planning to say was cut off as she watched in gaping horror, together with the remaining magmas, as Vance's salamence flew up and began to charge up a Draco Meteor. Both sides of the battlefield fell uncharacteristically silent as the crowd watched the sphere of draconic energy forming at the front of salamence's opened mouth, growing bigger by the second.

"SAVE YOURSELVES!"

No one knew who said it, but it broke the silence as people and pokemon alike rushed to find safety. It's too late, the attack was already fired. Vance's pokemon just looked resigned as they took shelter behind Vance's metagross, who had thrown up a huge shield of Protect to protect the team. Flannery's pokemons took the opportunity to cross the wall of flames that Charlie had created earlier and hide behind Vance's metagross as well. Metagross simply increased the surface area of the shield without losing its protective power to cover the new occupants. It actually looked a little apologetic when Flannery's pokemons hid behind him, and looked as if it was apologising telepathically to Flannery's pokemons for his trainer's stupidity.

Magmortar just stood in front of Vance and threw a shield of protect of his own just as Flannery and her flareon hid behind Vance and used him as a human shield. Vance just stood there and had a wide smile plastered on his face behind his mask, his combat mask glinted as it reflected the light from the energy of salamence's Draco Meteor. His crossed his arms and he stood with his feet shoulder-length apart, his chest puffed out with pride, looking very proud of his decision.

Flannery finally knew why Velda called Vance a trouble magnet whenever he became their topic of discussion.

The resulting explosion shook the entire cave that they were in and Flannery swore that the entirety of Mt Chimney shook together with it. The Draco Meteor kicked up a huge cloud of smoke and the smell of burnt flesh wafted into their noses. The smoke was quickly cleared by salamence's beating wings and the two trainers saw the now very dead group of magmas and their pokemons lying in the craters that resulted from the Draco Meteor.

"Ah, that was refreshing! Good job, salamence! Hey missy- AHH!"

Flannery cuffed Vance on the side of his head a second time as she screamed at Vance.

"Hey?! HEY my ASS! What were you THINKING?! Do you even have a brain?! How are you still alive if you pulled stuffs like these all the time?!"

Vance rubbed the side of his head where Flannery's fist had hit, looking annoyed. "Well, we got rid of them, didn't we? And we did it in like..." Vance took a look at the watch on his wrist. "Wow, less than five minutes. That's a record for such a large group, even for me. And- AH HA! I won our bet! That's the most important thing!"

Magmortar shifted slightly away from his trainer and looked sideways, looking a little embarrassed at his trainer's antics. Flannery's flareon gave a sympathising look. It must be hard to live with such a problematic? idiotic? stupid? trainer, even if he is a capable trainer.

Flannery's entire body was shaking and looked as if she would just jump on Vance and strangle him alive. She settled for giving a hard kick in his shin, only to jump back in pain as she tried to nurse her hurting foot.

"I wear armour plates on my shin, missy."

"You-!"

Vance jumped down to the area where the dead magmas are and was caught in time by metagross's Psychic lest his trainer accidentally committed suicide by falling from tall heights. Vance continued to walk forward as he put a finger to his chin, muttering his thoughts just loud enough to hear. Flannery caught up to him as her charizard, Sarah, dropped her gently on the ground next to Vance.

"Hmm...what should I ask you to do? Maybe I could get you to deliver coffee to me for an entire week? Or I could dare you to shave your head and post a picture of it online? Or maybe-"

Not wanting to hurt her foot this time, Flannery took a step back and forcefully kicked Vance on his butt with the flat of her right foot as Vance fell face down into the ground with an 'oof!'. Vance turned around, sat up, and pointed an accusing finger at Flannery.

"Hey! What's that for?!"

"Technically, it was a draw. Sure, you took out your share of your magmas. But our bet was to-" Flannery raised the fingers on both of her hands to do an air quote motion. "-see 'who took a lesser time to destroy the magmas on their side'. You destroyed my side in that stupid Draco Meteor as well, dummy. We never said we cannot help each other to destroy those magmas. Since both sides were destroyed at the same time, it's a draw. I don't owe _you_ anything. Not after that stupid stunt you pulled."

Flannery took great satisfaction as she walked past Vance's stunned figure, who is still sitting on the floor pointing at her previous spot like a stone statue trying to process her words. She continued walking for a few more metres, before turning around and dragged Vance along with her by his collar in an impressive show of strength.

"Come on, siscon. We don't have time to waste. I really want my bath."

* * *

Norman could feel his balance being tilted forward, back, sideways and many other directions as the entire Mt Chimney shook like an earthquake had occurred in the volcano. Many will think it was a real earthquake, but Norman knew better. Vance had did something stupid _again_ , there's no doubt about it. The source of this earthquake came from where he was supposed to be and it is enough proof for Norman that the earthquake was Vance's doing. Underneath his mask, the edge of his mouth was twitching uncontrollably even though the twitching was so minute no one could see it even with his mask off his face. Norman tried to rein in the frustration and resignation he felt in the confines of his mind as he remained cool and unaffected on the outside. Norman silently thanked his lucky stars that he remembered to send Vance far and away from him the moment they had the chance to split up. He will apologise to Flannery later if she questioned him on sticking Vance with her, but otherwise he will remain absolutely silent. He had no wish to rile up the energetic gym leader.

Vance is a very capable trainer. That fact was obvious on the very first day he enlisted himself into ACE. But there was a very good reason why Norman never accepted his application into his company and referred him to Wallace instead.

Vance did things like _this_ on almost every mission he went with his ACE team. Norman was still in ACE when Vance just enlisted into its service, and was tasked to train the batch of recruits that Vance was a part of. On the very first mock mission Vance went as a new recruit, he nearly destroyed the entire training building with an Explosion from his gengar, saying that the mission can be cleared faster this way. While his reasoning wasn't _wrong_ , per say, since there were no hostages, important documents, vital information or anything of that nature that he and his team of recruits was tasked to retrieve. Their mission was to simply eliminate all the hostiles in the building that was used for their mock mission. The 'hostiles' were senior members of ACE that had volunteered to helped train the recruits since they were on a lull period on that time. They certainly didn't sign up for receiving an Explosion in an enclosed building and right in their face.

The worst part? No one could find any fault with Vance's actions. His team wasn't required to make sure that the building remained standing or ensure that there were no extensive collateral damage to their training facilities. It wasn't said out loud as it was kind of an implicit notion that the training building _have_ to remain standing after the whole training was over or else no one after them could use the buildings for their own mock missions. Right before Vance's team started their mock mission, Vance had convinced his team to not enter the building and leave it all to him before he swiftly commanded his insane gengar to infiltrate the building and use Explosion, so Norman and the senior members can't fault him for unnecessary friendly-fire. They also can't fault Vance for intentional manslaughter, since Vance and his team knew that there were hostiles, but they didn't know that the 'hostiles' were members of ACE as well since they weren't told. The recruits had thought that it would be dummy hostiles, which was what Norman wanted them to think. He placed real 'hostiles' because he wanted to train them to react to unexpected situations. The entire training building along with the senior members of ACE in it would have been blasted to kingdom come if Judge hadn't quickly intervene with a Sucker Punch.

Despite the stupid act, Vance's actions were well within the parameters of their mission if they have to interpret the mission details strictly word for word. No one can fault him for acting outside the parameters of the mission.

As Norman soon found out, these kind of things happened _every_ , _single_ , time Vance is on a mission, even on mock missions.

For the sake of his sanity, Norman himself had sent in a letter of _plea_ to Wallace to let him accept Vance into Ghost Company after Vance had completed his recruit training. Only Wallace can handle someone as destructive as Vance.

He turned his thoughts back to the cave he found himself in near the heart of Mt Chimney. It is large, and could probably fit a few ACE companies worth of operatives together with their pokemons. The cave looked important given how it was furnished. The cave is very wide, tall, and long as well, and he could see two large metal doors at the other side of the cave. His men spread themselves out as they combed through the large cave. He heard Judge gave a low growl and immediately raised his right fist to signal his men to stop, something's not right here.

A slow clapping sound sounded across the cave as the large metal doors at the other end of the cave swung open. A man with slick back red hair walked in while clapping his hands, with him were six magmas who wore admin uniforms and stood by the red hair man like his guards. They had another group of grunts at the back and Norman estimated that there were about 70 of them.

This red hair man is obviously the leader of Team Magma.

"Well done. I wasn't expecting our base to be found this soon. I wasn't expecting it to be found at all. Please enlighten me, how did the league found out about it?"

Norman didn't bother to reply as he gestured his men to take their positions. He signaled them to split up evenly among themselves and to pay extra attention to the admins. The admins were known to be at least Elite level in strength and are usually on the higher spectrum of it. Norman will take on the Team Magma's leader himself.

The red hair man continued his monologue.

"You guys did a good job in preventing our escape. I don't know how you did it, but we can't teleport ourselves away. There's a large group of ACE forces outside that surrounds the whole of Mt Chimney, so we can't escape through our escape routes even if we wanted to. You guys had us completely cornered. But don't you know the saying?"

The red hair man and the entire of Team Magma released all of their pokemons as Norman and his ACE operatives released theirs. Pokemons on both sides took their battle stance and sized up their opponents, ready to start another war.

"A cornered rat-"

The red hair man's camerupt blasted a Fire Blast at Norman which was batted away by Judge. Trainers and pokemons on both sides jumped into action, and began their fight.

"-attacks the cat."

* * *

 **AN: Sorry if this chapter took a little long, there are a lot of info in this chapter and I needed to ensure that they are all consistent with each other so that I don't drop myself into a plot hole.**

 **I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the previous chapter. That chapter may be a lot shorter in length compared to the previous chapters, but sometimes there is value in having less than more. If you noticed, a lot of the stuffs I wrote in the earlier chapters is a prelude to the war chapter. Like Dolly's ability to sense negative emotions, the finding of the rock on lilycove beach, why I wrote Velda's trip to Mt Chimney in her lavaridge training arc and found the cliff, why I keep repeating the fact that Toothless is a prideful pokemon, which is true according to the pokedex entries, and the reason I gave a charmander to Velda. I also kept subtly repeating the fact that Overheat cannot be used as a charmeleon. All of these arrangements is for the war chapter, which is the very first scene I planned out for IJWTTTW.**

 **I hoped this chapter isn't too boring for you guys. I had tried to arrange it so that it wouldn't feel like an information dump, and tried to add some humour in it to lighten the mood brought about from the previous chapter. I did not want to write about the raid on the Team Magma and Aqua's base initially, but some of you had said that you wanted to see the gym leader's true powers in action, so I decided to try and write it. This also means that my writing for Velda's Mossdeep and Sootopolis gym challenge will be delayed, but I will see if I can write it out before school starts.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar, (Kratos), male**

 **Flannery, Age: 20, Female, Lavaridge Town Gym Leader, Ex LSDF Member**

 **1) Torkoal (Charlie)**

 **2) Charizard (Sarah)**

 **3) Houndoom (Gavin)**

 **4) Camerupt**

 **5) Magcargo**

 **6) Flareon**

 **7) Infernape**

 **8) Arcanine**

 **9) Chandelure**


	17. Chapter 17- Aftermath

' _Quit your moping, Toothless.'_

 _'I am not moping, Flamel.'_

 _'Yes, you are. Vel's safe. She's been awake for two days, so quit it. She would have come down to see us if it was possible, but the human-healers forbade it. Thank Arceus Dolly, Rena, and Fuzzy can sneak up there undetected and help keep her company. Vel's fine now, everything's alright. You tried your best to protect her. No one here blames you for what happened. Vel will never blame you.'_

 _'You don't **understand**! It was **my** fault! Kel and Kratos were down! Rena was separated from us! Fuzzy is not a battler! I was the only one capable to bring that four-arm freak down! I was supposed to protect Vel! And I failed! If only I heeded Vel's teachings, if only I had evolved sooner! I could have evolved sooner! We all know it!'_

 _'And you did. You evolved to save her.'_

 _'And she would have DIED if Vance didn't appear when he did!'_

 _'But he appeared. You were the one who sensed him when no one else did. You still saved Vel.'_

 _'You don't underst-'_

 _'Oh shut UP. I don't **UNDERSTAND**?! I am her **starter** for Arceus's sake, Toothless! **I** don't **understand**?! I know damn well the feeling of hopelessness whenever Vel's in pain or got herself hurt for reasons that she was not responsible for! Have you seen her in pain and writhing on the ground in silence because it was too painful for her to even scream? Have you seen how she just endured the pains with a smile on her face telling you that everything is going to be alright?! It happened often enough for me to lose count! You know what? Her condition was already a lot better when I first met her! I cannot imagine the hell she'd been through before that! Every single time I see her in pain back at our home I blame myself for being useless! I am useless as her starter and friend! I cannot stop her pain or neither can I help to share it! Do you know how many times she cried alone on the farm away from other humans because the pains got so unbearable but she doesn't want to worry them? Do you?!_' Flamel stopped to catch his breath after his outburst, the flames on his body had grew hotter and bigger in response to his emotions. _'So **don't** tell me I don't understand. Nobody here understands Vel as well as I do! I was by her side longer than any of you were! She showed me things about herself that she never told others, even her kin. Vel is strong, but she is also vulnerable. If we don't stay strong ourselves, who will stay strong for her? She needs **us** , Toothless, that includes you. Vel raised you since you were a hatchling, you were like her own kid. So stop blaming yourself, not only will it hurt you, it will hurt her as well. The last thing Vel needs right now is to worry herself sick over us, so stop moping.'_

Toothless wanted to retort but was unable to find the words needed for it. He settled for just lying down listlessly on the grass patch. The team is currently located in a large clearing designed to house pokemons belonging to sick and injured humans located behind the building that Velda is currently housed in. The team had chose a spot for themselves in the clearing and spent their time there together while waiting for news of their trainer's recovery. Vance had told them two days ago that she had woken up, but her body's still weak and needed a lot of rest. The human-healers had not wanted any pokemon in her room, saying that it might have adverse effect on her recovery for whatever medical reasons. Vance had merely told Velda's team it was a load of tauros crap and just told the smaller members of Velda's team to sneak up to her room whenever they can to keep her company. He told them that Velda absolutely hated to be trapped in a room on a bed due to her past experiences as a child and that their company would help to lift Velda's mood. It had been two days since Velda woke up, and it was a relief for everyone on the team.

 _'If you really think that you are the reason why Vel's injured, go train yourself. Get stronger. No one can promise an attack like that won't happen again, but at least we can prepare for them. You got stronger with Vel's help, use that strength to protect her. Even Fuzzy is training on his own accord whenever he's free to do so. Go find Snap. He can teach you how to use your wings properly, you haven't been using your wings after the battle. Go and learn how to fly properly, Vel would love to be able to fly on your back as well.'_

Toothless got up. Flamel's right. No one can change what happened in the past, but they can try to prevent their past mistakes from repeating itself. They can help create a future where Velda won't get injured anymore.

 _'Do you know where Snap went?'_

 _'Probably buried in sand somewhere near here for a sand bath. He told me he wanted to clean himself properly before Vel rides him to our next destination.'_

 _'I see. Thanks, Flamel.'_

Flamel snorted as he turned and walked away towards where the rest of the team was resting in a shelter Bigblue had created for them out of rocks.

 _'Don't worry about it. It's part of my job as Vel's starter.'_

* * *

 _How?!_

Until now, everything was going according to plan so far. Steven had led several ACE companies together with Winona and teleported themselves outside the rock that was used as Team Aqua's base. As part of the plan, they left a significant amount of their forces outside to surround the rock in case any aquas tried to escape. The interior of the rock would not be big enough to fit the entire ACE force for this mission anyway, no matter how skilled the pokemon that the aquas had in their possession that knows Secret Power. Steven opened the entrance to Team Aqua's base with Secret Power, and the ACE forces followed up by blocking all forms of teleportation in and out of the area on top of closing off every escape route they had found and thought of. The anti-teleportation techniques employed by ACE also means that the teleporting panels within the base cannot be used, and there are rooms in the base that can only be accessed by the panels. Getting into these rooms isn't a big issue. Grip, his starter and metagross, was able to locate every single individual in the base with his psychic powers. All Steven had to do is to send the members of his team in the directions Grip had pointed them to and they forcefully tunnel their way through the rock walls where majority of the aquas were gathered. Coincidentally, there were seven different directions where large numbers of aquas were gathered. Winona led part of the ACE operatives with them in one direction and Steven's five other pokemons went in a different direction each with a small force of ACE operatives behind them. He himself went in another direction together with Grip and the remaining ACE operatives as Grip blasted through the walls with Flash Cannon. They found the leader of Team Aqua, a muscular man with tanned skin, neatly trimmed beard and he wore a bandanna on his head with the logo of their organisation imprinted on it.

Steven wasted no time in battling with the leader of Team Aqua. The ACE operatives that followed Steven battled the aqua admins and grunts while Steven personally took on the leader of the terrorist group. Steven had no idea if it was confidence or foolish arrogance that led the leader of Team Aqua to engage him in a one on one battle, but he's not going to question his good fortune. The man used a sharpedo, which has natural immunity to Grip's psychic attacks due to its part dark typing and a resistance to Grip's steel type attacks due to its water typing. Its speed in the waters surrounding the room also proved to be a problem as Grip had problems hitting the savage fish with its attacks while it sped around in the waters around them. It's still not a concern for Steven. He's someone who is going to be Hoenn's future Champion. He had proved his strength by defeating Wallace in a fair battle. A measly sharpedo isn't an issue.

Despite the disadvantage they faced, Grip nearly defeated the sharpedo until the leader of Team Aqua pulled out a Key Stone.

 _How on earth had the terrorist managed to learn about the existence of mega evolution?! And where did they managed to get their hands on a Key Stone?!_

The Sharpedonite held by the sharpedo, which was hidden from view throughout the battle, reacted to the Key Stone and mega evolved into a mega sharpedo.

The tables were immediately turned. Mega sharpedo pushed Grip back. The powers granted by mega evolution is no joke, pokemons that mega evolved have the capabilities to easily destroy towns even when they are poorly trained for battle. The PWL employed a strict need-to-know-basis policy when it comes to letting trainers under their command learn about the existence of mega evolution simply because the powers of mega evolution can be easily misused.

Like right now.

Mega evolution or not, Grip is still strong enough to take down the sharpedo. However, time is of the essence and Steven absolutely cannot allow any chance for the leader of Team Aqua to run away. Steven idly fiddled the Key Stone he had hidden under his sleeve, he had made his decision.

"Grip, we are going mega."

Grip roared and glowed in a bright flash of light. Mega evolution is not something Steven liked to use on Grip, it turned Grip's personality into a ruthless brute that wins its battle using the most cruel means. It is not a personality he wished to see being displayed by Grip.

Mega sharpedo was zipping through the ocean waters that was present in the large room they were in. Steven guessed that the room acts like some sort of harbour for Team Aqua due to the submarine Steven saw in the same room. Team Aqua's leader would have gotten away in the submarine if Steven had reached this room a moment later. Grip had punched a hole in the submarine with a Flash Cannon to prevent Team Aqua's leader from escaping, and it was the opening salvo that kick-start their battle.

Turning his attention back to the battle, Steven soon realised that mega sharpedo's attack patterns were to avoid Grip's attacks by swimming at high speeds in the waters as it fired pot shots from the ocean waters. Mega sharpedo's greatest strength is its speed. This battle will not end unless Steven and Grip managed to stop mega sharpedo from moving.

"Grip, raise the waters and initiate Water Prison."

Grip released a wave of psychic energy and tried to restrict mega sharpedo's movements by using Psychic on the surrounding waters. Grip raised the waters from the harbour and levitate it into the air with mega sharpedo in it and reshaped the waters into a floating sphere. Grip used his psychic powers to increase the water pressure in the water sphere to crushing levels, transforming the sphere of water into a water prison for mega sharpedo. The water pressure within the sphere was too huge for it to move.

"Finish it."

Seeing that it had finally stripped mega sharpedo of its ability to move, Grip dashed towards mega sharpedo in his new form and rammed it with a Meteor Mash. Mega sharpedo was thrown through the thick walls of the aqua base by Grip, a feat only possible with the strength granted by mega evolution. Mega sharpedo was blasted through the outermost wall of the base and into the sea outside. Mega sharpedo tried to get back up, only to get caught in Grip's Miracle Eye, removing the dark type immunity it had against psychic attacks. Grip immobilised mega sharpedo's movement with a Psychic, and began to slowly crush mega sharpedo inwards into a ball of meat before dropping it back into the ocean.

Grip only ever show such ruthlessness whenever he mega evolved and Steven disliked it. He would never let Grip mega evolve unless he really needs the power.

The leader of Team Aqua tried to release more pokemons, only to find his belt empty of pokeballs.

"Don't bother. Grip had removed your pokeballs with Psychic and hid them away. No one can save you now."

Steven walked up to the terrorist with Grip by his side, ready to launch themselves into battle once more at the slightest hint of danger.

"It's over. Now it's time for you to pay for your crimes."

* * *

Judge defended itself from the flames emitted by mega camerupt and retaliated with a Shadow Ball. Norman was thrown off his balance for a short while when the red hair man had mega evolved his camerupt. It's one thing to know about the existence of mega evolution, it is another thing to actually be capable of invoking the process of mega evolution. Mega evolution is not invoked by simply having a Key Stone and Mega Stone in your possession. Something else is needed, but to date, there is no conclusive answer to what that 'something' is. Even after the trainer and their pokemon had managed to successfully invoke the process of mega evolution, both the trainer and pokemon have to undergo a lengthy process of learning how to harness the huge increase in power to prevent themselves from getting hurt due to their ignorance on how to utilise it. According to historical records, there were trainers and pokemons during the warring states era who took months or even years to have the powers under perfect control. Trainers who had managed to achieve this feat were rare, but they usually brought victory to the group that they are affiliated to by completely annihilating their enemies. The devastation to the environment brought about by mega evolution during the warring states era was why PWL erased all records of its existence the moment it was founded. In modern times, gym leaders usually only take about a week to master these powers thanks to the invention of accessories that helped to harness the powers of the Key Stone more effectively. Pokemons that were highly trained usually need a shorter time to harness the powers as well. There were a few exceptions where trainers had pokemons who were poorly trained but yet able to harness the powers of mega evolution in a very short time. Professor Sycamore had theorised that this was because there was a very strong bond between the trainer and pokemon, which is the key to allow mega evolution to happen.

Norman doesn't really care about the scientific explanations regarding mega evolution right now. The fact that these criminals managed to not only learn the existence of mega evolution, but also managed to use it properly is a huge cause for concern.

The PWL will be in an uproar the moment they knew about this.

Norman and the red hair man had let their teams out as they battled each other. Norman didn't have the time to watch over the battles of the other members of his team except for Judge, who was battling the red hair man's camerupt. The red hair man is strong. Norman would have given him his badge if he was a normal trainer. His camerupt is well-trained and is definitely stronger than most Elite level pokemon. Norman didn't allow the use of the more destructive attacks his pokemons had in their arsenal, doing so would cause the entire volcano to collapse on everyone in it. It limited the options that they had and caused their battles to drag on more than is strictly necessary. Luckily, that isn't a major problem. The red hair man is strong, but Norman and his team is a lot stronger. Defeating the red hair man wasn't a problem, it just takes time.

Then the red hair man started to laugh hysterically as he mega evolved his camerupt.

Judge was immediately pushed back by the powers of mega camerupt and Norman had no choice but to let Judge use the more destructive moves to try and bring it down as fast as possible. They are winning, but the entire volcano will get destroyed even before their battle is finished. His operatives had long since finished their battles and was forced to evacuate the cave due to the amount of power being thrown around in Norman's battle with the red hair man. Norman had sent them beyond the metal doors where the magmas had first appeared to make sure that they didn't leave out a single magma. This mission isn't over yet, not until they had cleared and checked every single nook and cranny in Team Magma's base and rid the magmas of it.

The entire volcano shook once more as mega camerupt took Judge's punch head on without even flinching. Mega camerupt tried to roast Judge with a Flamethrower which Judge simply shrugged off. This battle is going nowhere. The longer the battle took, the higher the chance for the red hair man to escape.

"Judge, switch places with Khan. A prolonged battle is not suited for our situation."

Judge roared in acknowledgement as Norman's kangaskhan lept into battle from where it was and slapped mega camerupt with a Fake Out, causing it to flinch. Judge quickly swap places with kangaskhan as it engaged kangaskhan's previous opponent, a weezing.

"Khan! Mega evolve!"

The Key Stone embedded on Norman's bracelet reacted to the Mega Stone that Khan held. A few seconds later, a mega kangaskhan stood in front of Norman, ready and raring to battle.

"Power-Up Punch!"

Khan charged and sent mega camerupt a powerful punch. Khan's child followed up with a Power-Up Punch on its own. The ability of mega-kangaskhans is Parental Bond, allowing both the parent and child of the species to share their powers when they mega evolved. The infant will always follow the parent to battle and they will attack in pairs one after the another, with the child using the same move that the parent used. Due to their ability and characteristics they show in battle, what is meant to be a single attack will effectively be two attacks. The Power-Up Punch was delivered twice, causing Khan's power to increase twice.

Mega camerupt tried to retaliate with a Flame Burst only for Khan to defend itself with a Water Pulse. Mega camerupt used the moment that Khan was defending itself to charge in with an Iron Head. Khan raised its arms to block the attack but was sent skidding back as mega camerupt continued to use its momentum and strength from Iron Head to push Khan backwards.

"Crush Claw then Drain Punch! Weaken it!"

Khan's claws glowed as it slashed at mega camerupt and weaken its defensive powers before stealing some of its health with Drain Punch. The punch from Khan's child sent mega camerupt backwards a few feet away, who tried to shake off the damage.

"Use Return!"

Khan shouted a war cry with its child as they punched mega camerupt together and sent it crashing down onto the stone floor. Mega camerupt roared back as it tried to get Khan off itself with an Eruption. It succeeded as it bought just enough time for it to get out of the crater it was punched into before Khan came back for its next round of attacks.

"Mega camerupt, Earthquake!"

A massive earthquake shook the volcano once more, this time it was a lot more bigger than what Vance had caused earlier. Norman hoped that the Earthquake from mega camerupt would not cause Mt Chimney to somehow trigger a volcanic eruption of its own. They also need to end the battle quickly before they are all buried alive within Mt Chimney.

"Comet Punch! Don't let it have the chance to fight back!"

Khan charged towards mega camerupt as it rained down a barrage of Comet Punchs at mega camerupt. It is a very basic move that every kangaskhan is able to use naturally. Comet Punch allowed the user to rain down a series of punches on its opponents but the power behind each punch isn't that great. Not for Norman's kangaskhan. Norman had trained Khan so hard in this move that it made every single punch behind Khan's Comet Punch to be equivalent to the force produced by a single Mega Punch. It is a move that they often use to surprise and suppress their opponents when they don't want them to have a chance to retaliate. Hardly anyone will invest a large amount of time in trying to perfect a basic move. To Norman, a basic move is sometimes what he needs to win a battle. He does not tolerate sloppiness during training, even if the purpose of the training is to perfect a basic move.

Their hard work had paid off.

Mega camerupt tried to fight back by unleashing its flames, but everytime it tried to open its mouth it will get forcefully closed shut by a precise and heavy Comet Punch from Khan. It tried to force the volcanoes on its back to erupt, but every attempt to do so will be interrupted by a hard punch to its belly from below, courtesy of the infant kangaskhan. Its health is being whittled down at an alarming speed and it cannot do anything to stop it.

Mega camerupt knows it is losing, and so does its trainer.

"Camerupt! Explosion!"

With a determined bellow, mega camerupt pushed Khan off before glowing a bright white.

"Everyone get back! Use Protect!"

Norman released his lopunny from its pokeball who immediately used Protect to guard him. The rest of Norman's team followed its example as they put distance between them and their opponents and regrouped around Norman, using Protects of their own to create a dome of Protect around themselves with Norman as the center.

The Explosion from mega camerupt shook Mt Chimney once more and a large ball of fire swept across the entire cave and washed itself across the dome of Protect created by Norman's team. What is the red hair man planning?

The Explosion had died down by now, but a large cloud of smoke is in the way.

"Hunter! Get rid of the smoke!"

Norman's staraptor cleared away the smoke with its wings. Mega camerupt had reverted back into a camerupt and laid unconscious on the floor. There were other pokemons on the red hair man's team that were caught in the blast of Explosion and they either laid dead or fainted from the blast.

The red hair man was nowhere to be seen as well as several of his pokemons.

"Damn it! He escaped! We need to capture him dead or alive! Kill any of the enemy's pokemons on the ground that isn't dead yet! Move out!"

* * *

"THE VOLCANO'S ERUPTING!"

"Shut it, siscon, it's not erupting, at least not yet. Some idiot probably used an Earthquake somewhere. Concentrate on the battle!"

Vance grumbled under his breath as he commanded Macky to battle the magma admins together with Flannery's camerupt. They had regrouped with Charcoal's group and found a large number of Team Magma's forces shortly after near the heart of Mt Chimney. It was a cave that had a river of lava flowing through the center of the cave with rock cliffs on both sides. Overall, the interior of the cave looked like a canyon with a river flowing through it, except said river is a river of lava. The magmas were found on one of the cliffs where Vance and co. had entered. The cave they found themselves in wasn't that big, and both the ACE forces and magmas were forced to use only one or two pokemon per person or risk getting pushed off into the lava beyond the edge of the rock cliff where their battles were taking place. Vance and Flannery are battling a pair of admins who the magma grunts referred to as Admin Tabitha and Admin Courtney. The male admin, Tabitha, is commanding an emboar while the female admin, Courtney, sent out a heatmor for battle.

Flannery grimaced, the heat is getting unbearable ever since they ventured near the heart of Mt Chimney. People and pokemon will get cooked alive at this rate. Some of the ACE operatives had to be pulled out of the area as they were on the verge of a heatstroke. This mission had gone on long enough. It's time to end things once and for all.

"Siscon! Cover me! I'm ending the battle ASAP! Mark! We are going for a power boost!"

"Don't call me sis-"

Vance's complaint was ignored as Flannery's camerupt bellowed and pushed heatmor back with a Stone Edge. It lowered its head and braced itself for the increase in power it is going to experience soon.

"Mega evolution!"

Vance watched in awe as Flannery's mega camerupt threw their opponent's emboar and heatmor back with a single Headbutt. He knew of mega evolution. He was loaned a Key Stone and a Gengarite for this mission but he only had a single day with Macky to try and familiarise themselves with the power. He's not going to perform a mega evolution unless it's strictly necessary. Macky is good enough with it, but still hasn't manage to get the powers of mega evolution under complete control just yet.

They only had a single day to try it out, after all.

"Mark! Bulldoze!"

Vance tried very hard to balance himself as a single stomp from mega camerupt shook the entire cave they were in. Macky remained unaffected thanks to his Levitate ability. The emboar and heatmor fell down onto the ground together with their trainers and they were pressed onto the ground. The increase in power shown by Flannery's mega camerupt is probably somewhere near the power of a pokemon owned by an Elite Four member according to Vance's estimation. Even Wallace would have trouble trying to fight it in a one on one battle without the power of mega evolution.

"Mark! Crush them with Heavy Slam!"

Vance watched as mega camerupt _jumped_ ( _How did it do that?)_ into the air.

"Courtney! RUN! Live to fight another day! For our dreams!"

Tabitha grabbed the female admin and threw the female admin away from the falling mega camerupt just right before it landed on them. Tabitha and their pokemons laid dead beneath mega camerupt, squashed beyond recognition.

"TABITHA!"

"Macky! Grab her!"

Macky gave a cackle as it dashed towards the female admin who released a houndoom just in time. The houndoom knocked Macky back and blasted Macky with a Dark Pulse. The female admin ran across the only stone bridge that led to the other side of the cave. The bridge is narrow and only allowed a single person to travel through it. Her houndoom had used itself as an obstacle and blocked anyone from chasing after its master by positioning itself at the entrance of the narrow stone bridge and battled with Macky. Flannery's mega camerupt tried to snipe the female admin with Flamethrower but Courtney released a volcarona that used a Protect to shield her. Flannery was about to release her charizard to fly after the admin but Courtney had already reached the other end of the cave, destroyed the stone bridge with her volcarona and disappeared into one of the numerous caves found on the other side of the cave.

Flannery stomped on the ground, angry that an admin had managed to escape from her. "Damn it!"

Macky had killed the houndoom by now and floated beside Vance, who had walked up to her.

"I'm going to go mega with Macky as well. Our comrades will not be able to last as long as the magmas in this heat. These magma bastards had time to acclimatise themselves to this environment, most of our operatives don't have the experience in fighting in such conditions. We will lose by battling with them in a war of attrition. We need to end this quickly."

"I will cover you. Do it."

Macky dashed off in a surge of bright light and landed in the middle of the chaotic battlefield as a mega gengar. He ensnared every single living being he deemed as an enemy with his new ability, Shadow Tag. There's no way he will allow any of his prey to escape.

Macky loved Velda as much as Vance did. He watched her grow up. These guys may not be the ones who had hurt Velda, but he can sense the evil in them as bright as the sun which he abhorred so much.

The collective evil they emitted is revolting, even to a ghost like him.

"Kill them all."

Macky acknowledged Vance's commands with a loud hollow laugh as it dashed towards his preys from the shadows, killing them in creative yet morbid ways. The magmas witnessed their pending doom with wide eyes. A gengar had defied all logic and evolved further right before their very eyes and is killing their members left and right. Some of them had their guts ripped out of their bodies. Some of them were left with holes in their bodies as gengar punched through them. Some were dismembered and torn from limb to limb while they are still alive and screaming. There were even some who were _eaten_ alive as gengar swallowed them whole.

Hell had arrived.

Many of the remaining magmas screamed as they tried to escape the living hell that manifested in the form of an evolved gengar but found themselves unable to move far away from the living nightmare. They can only move around a certain radius away from the gengar. Their shadows were pinned to the ground by an unseen force which forced them to stay rooted on the spot. No shadows can exist without matter and no matter can exist without shadows. They will always be together. If the magmas' shadows are pinned down, so are their bodies.

There's no other way for the magmas to escape this living hell until death claimed them in the worst ways imaginable.

The remaining magmas, who had already lost all of their will to fight, sunk listlessly onto the ground as they watched the evolved gengar tearing into their ranks and reaped the lives of their comrades violently. Some of the remaining magmas had fainted from horror and there were a few who had wet their pants in fear. At least their deaths will be short, that gengar doesn't seem interested in playing with its food.

Their only remaining admin tried to take down the evolved gengar with his pyroar, but the pyroar suddenly float into the air and expanded like a balloon before popping in a shower of blood and guts with a Psychic from the gengar. The evolved gengar laughed hysterically like it had just popped a normal balloon instead of a living being, its laughter sounded like the calls of death beckoning for them to come to its embrace.

"Macky, knock the admin out with a Hypnosis. We need him alive. See if you can do the same to the other magmas as well."

The last thing the surviving magmas remembered in their hideout was a pair of glowing magenta eyes.

* * *

 _No way._

Team Magma had a legendary in their hideout all along?! **HOW** did they manage to find it in the first place?!

"HAHAHA! Surprise? I was surprised myself when I found Groudon here on Mt Chimney! It was the most fortunate thing to ever happen to me! We were only trying to build our base here when we found it sleeping within the lava of Mt Chimney, it's probably the reason why Mt Chimney isn't an extinct volcano yet! Don't you see the wondrous powers Groudon held? It's beautiful! A volcano won't die simply because Groudon decided to make its home in it! It remained alive simply by being in Groudon's presence! With Groudon's powers, we can expand the landmass for our dreams! Come join me, operative! You are strong, I can overlook this incident if you decide to join us in our cause! Your strength will be invaluable! With Groudon, Team Magma will be INVINCIBLE!"

Norman shook in rage as he took a step forward to apprehend the criminal, only for the red hair man to stop him.

"Ah, ah." The red hair man warned Norman off by wagging a single finger at him and pointing down into the sea of lava where Groudon slumbered. "Don't take another step forward or I will wake this sleeping beauty up. The fact that it is still sleeping doesn't mean that we haven't tried waking it up. We still don't know what we need to wake it up, but I figured that bringing the entire Mt Chimney down on it ought to do the trick even though I hadn't tried that particular method yet. My darmanitan here is more than enough to do just that." The darmanitan that was beside the red hair man this whole time beat its chest with pride after hearing its trainer's words. "Return your pokemons back to their pokeballs and put your pokeballs down onto the ground in front of you where I can see them. I can wake Groudon up faster than you can get me. What do you say, operative?"

Norman gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. The red hair man had forced him into a corner. He tried to calm himself down. There's still some hope left, he just have to trust his companions to do the job.

The responsibility of ensuring Hoenn's continued survival lies on them now.

He gave a very subtle gesture with his hands as he recalled the visible members of his team back into their pokeballs and slowly placed them in front of his feet in a single line while crouching down. Any time now.

"Splendid!" The red hair man cried out. "Alright, darmanitan, Flame-"

"You talk too much. Zack! Shifter!"

Whatever the red hair man planned to say was cut off as two kecleons appeared out of nowhere. One of them wrapped its long tongue around his darminitan and swiftly dragged it away from the red hair man. The other kecleon charged towards the red hair man who tried to release another pokemon. The kecleon simply dislocated his shoulders with two well-placed hits that made the red hair man cried in pain. The kecleon melted as it revealed its true form, a ditto, who swiftly elongated its body and used it to wrap itself around the red hair man tightly like a rope, making sure that the man cannot call out anymore of his pokemon and stuffing part of its body into his mouth to prevent him from speaking.

Norman had let out his team once again by now, and they quickly assisted kecleon in taking the darmanitan down.

"Good job, Zack, Shifter. You just saved Hoenn from a catastrophe."

Norman's pokemons replied to his praise proudly, and Norman turned to look back at the red hair man.

"By the league's orders, I'm taking you into custody, leader of Team Magma. There will be no salvation for you."

* * *

I was discharged from Ever Grande Hospital a week after I woke up.

On the fourth day after I woke up, Dad and Mum finally managed to get permission to visit me in Ever Grande Hospital during the afternoon much to my surprise. Vance had told me before he left for his mission that Ever Grande was on lockdown due to how important Ever Grande City is to Hoenn, and was the main reason why I didn't see Dad and Mum around when I woke up.

When I asked my parents how they managed to get permission to visit me at Ever Grande, Dad simply showed me the day's newspaper.

 ** _'Team Aqua's and Team Magma's leaders caught and their base destroyed!'_ **was the headlines of the newspaper. Vance had done it. My information was accurate and ACE had used it to take down the main forces of Team Aqua and Team Magma.

I eagerly devoured the news as I quickly read through what was published in the newspaper while Dad sat beside me on my bed and my Mum sat behind me combing my hair. Steven Stone had apprehended the leader of Team Aqua while Norman had caught the leader of Team Magma. Miraculously, there were no casualties on ACE's side although the reporter had noted that a sizable number of the ACE operatives had suffered from heatstroke while completing their mission within Mt Chimney. There were also a few operatives who sustained serious injuries, but they are expected to make a full recovery.

The Hoenn League managed to put an end to the tyranny of Team Aqua and Team Magma only ten days after the attack on Lilycove.

The news caused a massive ripple of reactions across Hoenn. Many rejoiced at the fact that these two terrorist organisations were finally put down. However, the Hoenn League had warned the public that the war with Team Aqua and Team Magma is far from over. There were many members of the two groups who were not in their main base at the point of the raid. There were also several admins of both groups who had either escaped using unknown means, or wasn't in their group's hideout at that point in time. The pictures of any known members of both groups who were still on the run was printed on the papers as the league warned members of the public not to engage these criminals under any circumstances and to inform any league personnel if they had news on them.

Still, the Hoenn league had finally dealt a massive blow to the two criminal groups that had plagued its lands for so long. The citizens of Lilycove were elated at the news and they were especially grateful to Steven and Winona, who were instrumental in the raid on Team Aqua's base. I am unsure on what to think about when I learned about the identities of the leaders of Team Magma and Team Aqua, Maxie and Archie. On one hand, they were the same people who led their respective groups back when I played pokemon emerald. On the other hand, I have no idea what impacts my actions had on this world. How had things changed now? Will it be for the better or for the worse?

From what I could read, there were also other things that are changing. Steven had cemented his position in the hearts of the people of Hoenn after the raid on Team Aqua's hideout. People are now looking forward to the day when Steven would officially take over Wallace as their Champion despite his young age. His role in ending Team Aqua's reign had helped to boost his popularity immensely, something that he needed if he were to be our Champion one day. People are already pushing the Hoenn League to instate Steven to be their Champion as soon as possible.

The news had also reported that Wallace was on another top-secret mission on his own that was critical to destroy Team Magma and Team Aqua's plans. Some members of the public were unhappy at the fact that nothing was reported on what exactly Wallace did. People were hungry for information after the attack of Lilycove. They feared what they didn't know. I know what kind of mission Wallace was on and I'm glad it wasn't reported on the news. Information about legendaries should be a tightly kept secret. Reading the press's interview with Wallace made me breathe out a sigh of relief. The fact that he could go for an interview with the press after his mission is proof that he managed to get the orbs to a safe place while not getting harmed by the orbs' mysterious powers. I sent him a personal message to thank him for his hard work, no one else would have been capable enough to go on that mission.

Upon my request, Vance had helped me to convince the Hoenn League, with a little help from Wallace, to keep my identity as the secret informant to where the bases of the two criminal organisations were located a secret from the public. The news had reported that an informant had gave away the locations of Team Magma's and Team Aqua's hideouts, and the public was curious as to who informed the Hoenn League about their locations. I don't need, and I don't wish for any unneeded fame or publicity. The fact that I was able to help to put these two groups down is enough reward for me.

The newspaper had also revealed how Team Aqua and Team Magma had eluded the Hoenn League's radar for so many years using Secret Power. Due to the misuse of this move, the PWL mandated that every single trainer in the world have to register themselves with their respective regional league should they own a pokemon with the ability to use the move Secret Power, or if they know how to teach that move to pokemons. The harsh and sudden policy created quite a stir across the world but it was welcomed with open arms in Hoenn. We had firsthand experience on how the misuse of this move took away so many innocent lives on our own soil.

Hoenn was previously put on Code Red when Lilycove was invaded and it had now relaxed to Code Yellow. People can now continue to travel in and out of Hoenn although they have to go through a list of stringent checks before doing so. Dad had speculated that things would probably go back to normal after a month when everything had died down a little.

Mum had fussed over me the moment she entered my room. I was reading a book I had taken from my backpack. My backpack was bloodied with my own blood during the attack on Lilycove. She took a look at my backpack, took it back home with her when the visiting hours are over that day and came back with a new backpack the very next day with my belongings all transferred and neatly packed inside it.

We may get into arguments occasionally, but it is small things like these that made me realised that we actually love each other very much.

My parents can only visit me for two hours each day since the league is still wary of another possible attack by the remnants of Team Aqua and Team Magma in a quest for vengeance, and put in place a heavy restriction on how many visitors can visit Ever Grande everyday and how long they can stay in it. Ever since the doctors told me that I am able to walk around outside my room on the third day after I woke up, I spent a large part of my time outside on the clearing behind the Ever Grande Hospital with my team. I was glad to see that they were alright. Rena had told me that Toothless felt very guilty and kept thinking that he was responsible for my injury. I had to spend an entire day trying to get Toothless to realise that _NO_ , he wasn't responsible for my injury, and that I should be the one thanking him as he was the one who saved me. I felt a little guilty for missing out on his evolution from a charmeleon to a charizard. To me, my pokemons' evolutions is a milestone that I should be there with them for. I had missed Toothless's final evolution, even if it was because I was dying from blood loss.

The nurses know that I suffered from a mild case of PTSD after experiencing the attack on Lilycove. I cannot allow my thoughts to wander as it will eventually come back to all the blood and death that I saw in Lilycove. I had a few nightmares about the attack that left me screaming hoarse in the middle of the night and the nurses had to administer medication to allow me to have a dreamless sleep. So when I asked if I could spend my free time outside with my pokemon instead, they relented, on the condition that they were to be informed of my whereabouts at all times. It wasn't an unreasonable request, so I agreed.

The gym leaders I had met all sent me messages to wish me a speedy recovery, and I was touched to see that they were genuinely concerned at my well-being. I knew that they were all busy trying to keep their respective cities safe and in order, but they still found time to worry about me. I replied each and every one of their messages, telling them that I am fine and would be expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.

I never saw Vance after he left for his ACE mission on the second day after I woke up. He still hasn't returned when I discharged from the hospital. I guessed that he must be still busy trying to hunt the remnants of Team Aqua and Team Magma that had managed to escape the raid. I sent a message to him to tell him that I was alright and not to worry about me. I wasn't too worried about the lack of reply to my message, I know Vance will get back to me when he's done with his missions.

I spent a large part of my free time waiting to be discharged trying to teach Toothless how to fly with help from Snap. It serves as a good distraction from the images I keep seeing in my head, the ones that I had saw in Lilycove. My pokemon will all huddle around me as I spent time with them, and it was a frequent sight for the residents of Ever Grande Hospital to peek out of their windows and see me taking a nap in the clearing with my pokemons.

When I was finally discharged from the hospital, the league were helpful enough to offer me a one-time, free teleportation service to any city in Hoenn I wanted to go after my discharge. Logically, I should have teleported to Mossdeep straightaway for my next gym challenge. However, I chose to go back to Lilycove.

I needed closure.

* * *

I still felt a bit weak and feverish when I reached Lilycove. The part of the town where most of the battle took place was almost unrecognisable. I walked through the debris and wreckage as I recalled what had happened at the spot I passed through when I was here trying to help defend Lilycove. I saw the spot where we had fought machamp and I recognised the scorch marks of Overheat, which Toothless had probably used to kill it. I saw the area where the defense force had been overrun. There were still blood stains that hadn't been cleaned up yet.

It wasn't hard to locate the large board erected at the middle of Lilycove where the KIA and MIA list was posted. Bouquets of flowers were placed on the ground where it stood. I didn't prepare any flowers beforehand before coming here, so I asked Fuzzy to help me gather some wildflowers and we placed them on the ground and prayed for them.

I hoped that if reincarnation is possible for them like what it happened to me, I hoped that they can lead a better life in their next life. A life without strife.

Looking through the KIA list, I realised that Vance was right. There were many people who were part of the defense force in the KIA list, a large part of them were volunteer trainers. Vance told me that many of them had only about three gym badges. Other than that, a huge part of the total death toll in Lilycove were the civilians who did not manage to get to safety when the attack happened. Another significant group that made up the death toll were the LSDF officers that were killed in the Draco Meteor fired by that salamence.

They died because I was too weak to stop the Draco Meteor attack.

I spent some time there staring at the board, trying and failing miserably in my attempts to remember the names of those who had fallen in battle. These people were the ones that I had fought beside with. It felt right that I should commit their names into my memory to honour their sacrifice.

I just couldn't remember the names, no matter how hard I tried and how long I stared at the board.

"Velda? Is that you?! Thank Arceus! You are alright!"

I turned around and saw Officer Haley, who is now wearing plain clothes and running up to me. The only other difference is that her right arm is now in a sling.

"O-Officer Haley?"

Officer Haley gave me a one-arm hug. She did not apply much pressure to it, probably fearing that her hug might aggravate any injuries I had that she could not see. She knelt down to my eye level as she scanned my body with her eyes for any visible injuries, and heaved a sigh of relief when she found none. My head injury on the back of my head had totally healed a day ago. The medical technology in this world is a lot more advanced than those in my previous world, which I am glad for as it means I don't need to spend a long period of time cooped up at the hospital waiting for my head wound to heal. Thankfully, there were also no side effects from my injury other than the small bouts of fever which I'm currently experiencing. The nurses had told me it was perfectly normal and I would make a full recovery in time. There would be a small scar on where I had injured my head, but that's the extent of the injury. Even then, the scar can be easily hidden thanks to my long hair, which had grown to the middle of my back.

Officer had gently ushered me to sit with her on a nearby bench. Fuzzy made himself comfortable on my shoulder while Rena simply laid down on my lap to provide me with some silent company.

"I knew you were safe when I didn't see your name on both the KIA and MIA list, but you weren't in the Lilycove Hospital either. Thank Arceus you are safe! Are you alright?!"

"Physically, yes. Other than that? I don't think I will ever be alright."

"I would send you to the shelters if I had the chance. A battlefield isn't what you are supposed to see and experience at your age. But then again, your pokemons were a great help in helping to defend Lilycove. I saw how they battled."

"I never wished to see them battle in this manner." I replied bitterly. "I-I ordered them to kill, you know? I know it was necessary, but..."

"Hush, it's alright now." Officer Haley gave me another hug. "You did well to survive. It was originally our job as LSDF officers to defend the town, but most of us were taken out in that Draco Meteor. Speaking of which..." Officer Haley released me from her hug and looked at me in the eyes. "Thank you for redirecting the Draco Meteor."

"I still failed." I clenched my fist as I felt my tears threatening to spill out of my eyes again. "So many other innocents died because I was incapable of destroying it. If only I was stronger..."

"What you did helped to save some of my friends and colleagues, my fiance included. The Draco Meteor only destroyed half of our office thanks to your timely intervention. Many of us died, that's true, and there were also a number who were too injured to help out after the attack. But there were a few who managed to escape the brunt of the attack and helped to defend the city or to guide any civilians they found to safety. There were people who survived thanks to you. As an officer, I thank you for your help in saving the lives of my comrades. As a woman who is about to get married to her fiance, I will thank you, once again, for saving my husband's life. My garchomp was trying to intercept the attack but we were too late. My fiance would have died if it wasn't for you."

"Wait... that garchomp was yours?!"

"Is it that surprising? I _am_ an Elite trainer, Velda, even if I do not look like one. Many of the higher rank officers in Lilycove are Elite trainers. My fiance is one too, but he was too injured after that Draco Meteor to help out in the city's defense, so he settled on helping to guide the civilians to safety instead. He's still bedridden from the injuries he sustained in the attack, but he's alive, thanks to you. We decided that if we ever have a daughter of our own, we will name it after you. Of course, that is if you don't mind us doing so."

I looked at Officer Haley in shock. "I don't think that's a good idea, Officer Haley. I am not exactly a good role model for people to follow."

"What you did was an action that only heroes do. The public wasn't informed on who tried to stop the Draco Meteor but the whole of Hoenn LSDF knows about it, and we are grateful to you. If you ever decide to pursue a career with the LSDF, you will definitely be welcomed into our big family, especially here at Lilycove."

I remained in silence as I pondered over Officer Haley's words. What she said was not a shocking revelation, but it was a surprise nonetheless.

"By the way, Officer Haley, do you know how many from our defense force had survived the attack? Excluding us."

Officer Haley took a while to recall before replying. "We were severely outnumbered and drained when we were overrun, so I didn't managed to see who survived when I was escaping from the front lines. What I knew were all told to me by word of mouth or by digging through the KIA list. I know that two of our LSDF officers survived the initial attack, but one of them succumbed to his injuries in the hospital a few days later. There was also a ranger who survived. He helped to defend his fallen comrades until help from ACE arrived, but like the LSDF officer, they passed away a few days later. Their injuries were simply too severe. There are also a few volunteer trainers, four of them, who survived. Most of them who survived were Elite trainers. The only one who wasn't an Elite trainer is an intermediate trainer. She had to abandon the battle halfway due to the fact that most of her pokemon were all knocked out and she chose to seek shelter after that. It was the best course of action for her. I would have been killed too, if my garchomp didn't manage to swoop in and get me away from the front lines when we were overrun. I am thankful that my garchomp came to rescue me when it did."

"My pokemons saved me too. I received an injury to my head here." I pointed to the back of my head where my head wound was and lifted my hair enough to let Officer Haley see the small scar, a reminder of my participation in the battle of Lilycove. "I was knocked unconscious by a machamp, you might have seen it rampaging when it broke through our defenses. It took out my absol and pupitar in one hit and threw my espeon far away from me." Rena gently nudged me with her head trying to comfort me as I spoke. "The only pokemon I had that were near enough to defend me was my charmeleon and Fuzzy here." I raised a hand to stroke Fuzzy, who is still perching on my shoulder and squeaking at me in concern. "My charmeleon forced himself to evolve to save my life. From what I know from the nurses, my pokemons helped to stem the blood from my head wound and bought me enough time for ACE to arrive and send me to Ever Grande Hospital via teleportation where they treated my wounds. I would have died otherwise. My charmeleon, now a charizard, actually felt guilty for not being able to protect me from harm, and I tried to keep telling him that it is not his fault and that I was the one who should be thanking him for saving my life instead. He stopped moping, so I think my words had gotten through him."

Officer Haley slumped back slightly in her seat after listening to what I spoke. "Pokemons sure are man's best friends, huh?"

"They are." I replied with a small smile. "Don't know what I do without them. I would probably still be cooped up at home."

"Where are you planning to go now, Velda? You are challenging the gym circuit, if I recall correctly. Are you planning to go to Mossdeep anytime soon? Most trainers who passed through Lilycove were aiming to compete in the Mossdeep gym challenge. All gym challenges were temporarily put to a halt after the attack on Lilycove, but they had resumed after ACE's successful raid on the aquas' and magmas' bases. The Hoenn League is trying to bring some sense of normalcy to everyone as soon as possible. I wonder who provided the information on the location of their bases? The Hoenn League didn't reveal the informant's identity. I wonder what kind of person that informant is? He or she did a great service to the whole of Hoenn."

"Maybe that informant is also another kid like me? It would be possible. Kids like me don't like to be in the spotlight." I replied sarcastically.

"Maybe. But I thought youngsters like you love to be in the spotlight?"

"I don't know about others, but I wouldn't be those youngsters. And to answer your question, yes, I plan to go to Mossdeep tomorrow. I don't want to sit around and do nothing. Every time I let my mind wander I would remember about..." I do a vague sweeping gesture to our surroundings with my hands. "...this. It's unpleasant. I need something to do to distract me."

"Understandable. How about you stay with me for tonight? My house is on the other side of Lilycove and was unaffected by all the fighting. It's better than staying in the pokemon center, that place is a mess right now. No reply? I take it as a yes then!"

I wasn't given a chance to voice my opinion as Officer Haley simply grabbed my hand and started to drag me in the direction of her house, Fuzzy and Rena just simply followed Officer Haley. Rena's precognitive powers can help determine a person's true nature to a small extent. If she is ok with Officer Haley, I guess it would be fine to impose her for a single night.

"Thank you for your offer, Officer Haley. But I still think naming your future daughter after me is a bad idea."

"Just address me by my name when I'm off duty. If you don't want me to name my future daughter after you, I could always name you her godmother then. Which one do you prefer?"

"On second thought, naming your future daughter after me sounds like a _way_ better idea than me becoming her godmother."

"My fiance and I can always name our daughter after you _and_ name you her godmother."

"For the love of all that is holy. Please. NO."

* * *

 **AN: Sorry if this is a little late, I was busy with stuffs irl and I didn't have the time to write.**

 **I still find the part which I wrote from Steven's POV unsatisfactory, but I don't know what went wrong. There were challenges in trying to write this chapter, especially when I promised you to write a chapter for the gym leaders to go all out. For one, I cannot possibly write Archie's strength to be comparable to Steven. Steven is the strongest trainer in all of Hoenn, the future Champion. So writing this chapter with their battle as the spotlight is not viable. I have already wrote about Winona previously, so writing about her again would not do any good. Flannery's strength was also revealed in the previous chapter, even though she didn't display her full strength. That leaves Norman, and I found that it is hard to realistically write a chapter where he goes all out. The location of the battle is within a volcano, an enclosed area. It would be stupid to write Norman going all out in a volcano as it will definitely cause a cave in on them.** **I decided to show a glimpse of the powers of mega evolution instead. The only normal type pokemon with the ability to mega evolve is kangaskhan and audino. I'm more familiar with kangaskhan, so I tried to write a battle with it as the battler. There's also the issue of what I want to do about the fate of Team Magma and Team Aqua after this chapter, and it was also another reason why I spent so long in trying to write this chapter. Do I want them to die out for good? Or do I want them to try and revive themselves and make a comeback in subsequent chapters? I'm still in the process of figuring it out.**

 **The next chapter will most likely be the Mossdeep gym challenge and it will be another challenge for me to try and write another series of exciting battles and trying to come up with creative and realistic combos for both Liza and Tate and Velda. Luckily, my school starts on the second week of Jan so there's still another week or so before I go on my hiatus. I will see if I can write a few chapters during my school term after my school starts by writing the chapters on my phone while travelling from home to school and vice versa. It's not my preferred method of writing as it creates a lot of room for mistakes, as evident in my earlier chapters. But at least I can get something out during the free time I have while travelling.**

 **It's officially the last day of 2018 when I finally post this chapter online, and I wish you all the best for 2019.**

 **Last but not least, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar (Kratos), male**

 **Flannery, Age: 20, Female, Lavaridge Town Gym Leader, Ex LSDF Member**

 **1) Torkoal (Charlie)**

 **2) Charizard (Sarah)**

 **3) Houndoom (Gavin)**

 **4) Camerupt**

 **5) Magcargo**

 **6) Flareon**

 **7) Infernape**

 **8) Arcanine**

 **9) Chandelure**

 **Norman, Age: 33, Male, Petalburg City Gym Leader, Ex ACE Commanding Officer of Fairy Company**

 **1) Slaking (Judge)**

 **2) Kangaskhan (Khan)**

 **3) Staraptor (Hunter)**

 **4) Lopunny**

 **5) Kecleon (Zack)**

 **6) Ditto (Shifter)**

 **Steven Stone, Age: 17, Male, Future Hoenn Champion, ACE operative**

 **1) Metagross (Grip)**


	18. Chapter 18- Teamwork

"Spread your wings wider, Toothless. Yes, like that. Now try it again."

I had left Officer Haley's house early in the morning the next day to travel to Mossdeep. Mossdeep is only a few hours away from Lilycove by flight, so I decided to take this opportunity for Toothless to gain some experience in long distance flight. Toothless flew beside me as I rode on Snap's back while try to teach him some of the more complicated aerial maneuvers on our way to Mossdeep.

It was about 11 am when we arrived at Mossdeep. The hustle and bustle of the city is a stark contrast to the doom and gloom completed with the scenery of devastation I saw at Lilycove. It helped to distract me from the negative thoughts I had from the invasion. I am still a little feverish and my fever had probably rose on my way to Mossdeep. The fever also had me feeling lethargic and sleepy. I know that I should just go find a room at the pokemon center to rest but I have enough of being confined to a bed, especially since I had just gotten myself discharged from the hospital only a day ago. I retrieved a cardigan from my bag to wear it for keeping out the cold I'm feeling thanks to my fever. Fuzzy used his tail as some sort of scarf and wrapped it gently around my neck, keeping me warm.

I rode on Flamel's back as I made my way to the Mossdeep gym. Battling is the only I can think of now to get rid of all the negative thoughts I had in my head. I don't want to sleep too, I don't want to experience anymore nightmares. I don't want my mind to dwell on Lilycove any longer, it's just not healthy.

I entered the gym still riding on Flamel's back. Kel and Rena were by our side. Thankfully, Kel had made a full recovery and her injuries, especially those on her legs, were healed and she's as good as new. Kratos had healed as well, but there is a small patch on his armour where machamp had injured him that is of a slightly lighter colouring from the rest of his armour. The nurse had said it is a scar, but it will not affect Kratos negatively in any way.

I rubbed my temples as I tried very hard to get my lethargic mind back in working order. I had popped a few pills given by the nurse at Ever Grande Hospital to keep the fever at bay, but I think they had a side effect of making me drowsy. I really should go and sleep off the effects at the pokemon center, but I know that I will not be able to fall asleep at this time of the day unless I take sleeping medication, which I don't have. None of my pokemons know hypnosis as well, so I can't use their help in getting me to sleep. Not like I would want to really sleep, there's always a chance for the nightmares to make themselves known again. I should have requested for some of the sleeping medication from the nurses at Ever Grande Hospital. Battling is the only thing I can do now to get rid of any thoughts I had of Lilycove, even if it is only a temporary solution.

 _'Mistress, do you mind if you let out the entire team?'_

"I don't mind, but what do you need them for?"

I released my entire team as I replied to Rena's request. She never does things without any good reason so I trusted her, even if I don't know what she's planning.

 _'Sleep, Mistress. We are capable of handling the gym challenge on our own. You need to rest. We promise that we will help you to get the gym badge by the time you wake up. You are not feeling well. Let us fight the battles for you.'_

Even before I could reply, Rena's eyes glowed a psychic blue as I felt my eyelids getting heavier.

 _'Rest well, Mistress. We will win our battles for you. Don't worry about us.'_

* * *

Rena gently lowered Velda from Flamel's back and placed her with her back leaning on one of the walls of the gym in a sitting position with her psychic powers. Fuzzy uses its body like a pillow to stop Velda's head from rolling to a side, preventing Velda from experiencing a neck ache when she woke up.

 _'Are you sure this is a good idea, Rena? And since when do you know how to use Hypnosis?'_

 _'What I did wasn't Hypnosis. Mistress's mind now is a mess, her mental defense is so weak right now that she is very susceptible to any form of psychic invasion to her mind, it's the only reason why I'm able to coax her mind to sleep. Such abuses of psychic powers is illegal among psychics, but I am Mistress's pokemon and I used it for her own good, so it doesn't count. This gym is a gym full of psychics and it is possible for them to invade her mind by accident which I did when I first evolved. Mistress has secrets in her mind that she doesn't want anyone else to know even if they found out by accident. It will be safer for her to be asleep given how weak her mind and body currently is since it will be harder to invade her mind when she's asleep. I would have tried to persuade Mistress to wait until she is fully recovered to come here but Mistress doesn't want to stay still. Her mind is still trying to recover from what she saw on the battlefield and she thinks that battling will distract her from negative thoughts. I will stay with Fuzzy to guard Mistress and to put her back to sleep if she wakes up earlier than expected. Pair yourselves up. Mistress had told me that this gym specialises in double battles so that is what we will be expecting. We need to clear the gym trainers as fast as possible so that we have more time in fighting the gym leaders. Mistress won't stay asleep for very long, what I used wasn't a real Hypnosis and the effect will weaken from repeated use. If you need any help in translating or communicating with the gym trainers just send me a message with telepathy, I had already established a telepathic link with everyone on the team. I had also just sent a message to all the other humans in this gym that we are attempting the gym challenge on Mistress's behalf since she's not feeling well and I had put her to sleep. They should know we are coming for them.'_

 _'Let's just get this over and done with then. If Vel have secrets no one else should know, then we should try our best to guard it for her if it means finishing the battles as soon as possible.'_

 _'Hey Snap! Can I pair with you? Please! Please! Please!'_

 _'Sure, Dolly. Come on, let's go and find our first pair of gym trainers. I wonder what they will think when they see us without a trainer with their own eyes? They probably thought Rena's message was a joke of some kind. I don't think we have saw anyone attempting a gym challenge asleep back at Petalburg gym.'_

 _'Oooh, that sounds like a nice prank! Alright, here's what we are going to do...'_

Bigblue watched as Snap and Dolly making their way towards the right side of the gym just as Lily slowly made her way to him.

 _'Bigblue? Mind if we pair up? We make a great combination.'_

 _'Sure. Just remember not to use any lethal attacks this time. We are not on a battlefield anymore and Vel doesn't need more things to worry about if we accidentally kill our opponents.'_

 _'What do you take me for? A fool? Come on, we are wasting time.'_

Toothless walked up to Kratos from behind and simply grabbed Kratos by his head using his large claws. He lifted Kratos up and spun him around to talk to him.

 _'Hey! What's the big idea? Put me down!'_

 _'You are with me. Let's go, we have foes to burn and bury.'_

 _'Heh, I like the sound of that.'_

Kel watched in silence as her teammates starts to go off to the different parts of the gym pair by pair. Flamel trotted up to her side.

 _'We are the only ones left, do you want to battle? It's ok if you don't want to battle, you just recovered from your injuries after all. I think I can take on my opponents two on one. Even if I cannot handle them, Rena can always take your place and help me if you aren't fit for battling.'_

 _'I'm not an invalid, Flamel, but thanks for your concern. Vel needs my strength now, it will not do any good to sit and do nothing. We should go, the others will finish off the gym trainers even before we have a chance to fight them if we stay and talk for any longer.'_

* * *

 _Ring...Ring..._

Liza picked up the telephone and answered the call. Who would call them right before their lunch break?

"Hello?"

"Liza? It's me, Richard. There's a challenger that would be making their way to you and Tate anytime now. You should get ready. The challenger is here for an advanced level battle."

"I see. Thanks for calling me, Richard. Tate and I will make our way there as soon as possible!"

"Wait! Don't hang up yet! There's something you need to know..."

Liza's mouth slowly widened in disbelief as she heard what Richard said. This situation is beyond bizarre. She ended the call when Richard had finished talking and turned to her twin.

"Tate..."

"I know, I read your thoughts. We can read each other's thoughts, remember? Weird cannot even begin to describe this situation."

Steven, who was in the same room as them, looked at them quizzically. "What's wrong? An emergency?"

"Nothing of the sort, Steven. It's just a challenger that we told our gym trainers to look out for. Her name's Velda. Liza and I have been waiting for her to challenge our gym for a long time already. She impressed every single gym leader she fought so far and she's near our age. There aren't many trainers our age that can give us a good challenge. The problem is that Velda is currently asleep thanks to her psychic pokemon. Apparently her espeon told our gym trainers through telepathy that it put her to sleep 'due to medical reasons'" Tate mockingly did an air quote with his hands as he said those words. "Her pokemons are participating in this gym challenge for her while their trainer is asleep. They aren't taking any commands from their trainer and they had somehow defeated all of our gym trainers. Officially, there are no rules to forbid the challenger from sleeping during the gym challenge so our gym trainers accepted their challenge on our behalf. No one expected for them to reach us. They will be reaching Liza and I anytime now."

"We need to go now, Tate."

"Let me go get our pokemons first. Let's see, we can use-"

"No. We are not using Sunny and Moony against her. They are our starters, it will be overkill! Don't you remember how Winona told us it was a bad idea on her part? Velda's asleep too! We can always postpone her gym challenge until Velda gets better!"

"And why hasn't she done it already? Why is she attempting the gym challenge even when she's sick? Besides, there's no doubt we are probably the weakest gym leaders in terms of power. Sunny and Moony are strong, but definitely not on the level of Winona's altaria and dragonite. They are not even our strongest pokemons when it comes to pure power. I think Velda's pokemons can put up a good enough fight. Our pokemons on the advanced level are obviously too weak to do anything against her if what we saw in her battle with Winona is true. We need pokemons that are at least on the Elite level. We can always help heal Velda's pokemons back after the battle with Heal Pulse before sending them back to the pokemon center for a thorough medical checkup. Velda doesn't even need to win to earn our Mind Badge. All she needs to do is to impress us. Relax, Liza. Steven can help spectate the match if you are uneasy about this arrangement."

"I don't mind, it's not like we can continue to discuss the defense plans we have for Mossdeep with a challenger knocking on your doors. Most of it is already finalised anyway. This discussion can take place later, you have a challenger to meet."

"This may be an official gym battle, but I still don't want to use Sunny and Moony against her. Not when she is unable to command her pokemons in battle."

"It's fine, Liza." Steven rose from his seat on the couch and placed a reassuring hand on Liza's shoulder. "I will step in if necessary. Just go all out if you feel like you need it. I have heard about Velda's exploits from her brother. Wallace too, who heard it through Winona. You might really need to go all out even with Sunny and Moony."

Liza looked at Steven and Tate with a scowl on her face.

"Fine. Go grab whatever pokemons we need for the gym battle."

* * *

 _'Are we supposed to wait here?'_

 _'Yes, brute. This is the area where we are supposed to battle the gym leaders for Mistress. Be patient, the gym trainers did tell us that the gym leaders will be teleporting here very soon.'_

 _'I still can't believe that we are going to do this. Sounds crazy. I love to fight, but this is suicidal, even by my standards.'_

 _'Just stay by the side then. We can always battle without you.'_

 _'Nice try, Toothless. But no, I'm still battling. At least I know the risk of dying here is low.'_

 _'That won't happen with us around. Don't worry about it, Kratos. Just battle as you usually do.'_

 _'Thanks Flamel. So who's going up to battle? Only six of us can battle, right?'_

 _'Kel should stay with Mistress. I know for a fact that the gym leaders are psychic humans with very strong psychic powers, Mistress told me before we came here. I don't think they will accidentally invade Mistress's mind with their psychic powers but we should play it safe. Kel's void powers should prevent any accidental psychic intrusion to Mistress's mind simply by staying by her side. Fuzzy and I aren't battling. I need to stay healthy enough just in case I need to establish a telepathic link with the gym leaders. So that leaves one of us left who needs to sit out on this battle.'_

 _'I can sit out. Kel is sitting out on this too so that leaves me without a partner. It's not like I really enjoy battling either. You guys go and have your fun, I will stay by Vel's side.'_

 _'Thank you, Flamel. So that leaves the six of you. Are you guys going to stick to your pairs?'_

 _'Yea, Kratos makes a good shield to use in case of emergency.'_

 _'OI! You used me to block attacks without my permission! I will get back at you for this, you hear me?! I am the future king of the mountain! You just wait till I evolve...mfph!'_

 _'There, it's a lot more quieter now.'_ Toothless said as he pressed Kratos face down on the ground with his feet, muffling anything Kratos was trying to say. _'Yea, I like my arrangement with Kratos very much. We will stick together.'_

 _'Lily and I are fine with our pairing too.'_

 _'So are Snap and I!'_

 _'Good. I guess all we have to do now is to wait for the gym leaders to appear then.'_

The gym leaders appeared in a flash of teleport at the other end of the arena just at that exact moment. There was also a human with light steel blue hair that arrived with them. He made his way to the spectator stands at the side of the arena. Rena guessed that he was probably here to spectate the match. Rena walked a few steps to the front of her group and began to speak to the gym leaders via telepathy.

 _'Greetings, gym leaders. My name is Rena. We would like to battle for your gym badge on our trainer's behalf. She's currently asleep, but we are more than capable in handling ourselves in battle even without her help. We would like to request this to be an official battle.'_

 _'We heard from our gym trainers what you told them. We will honour your wish for an official gym battle. But in light of your trainer's condition, this battle will stop the moment we deemed it necessary. Are we in agreement?'_

 _'This arrangement is acceptable. I suppose we need to register the battle with this machine?'_ Rena brought out Velda's Pokedex with her psychic powers and hovered it in midair where it is easily visible.

 _'Yes. Please place it on the panel at the center of the challenger box.'_

The registration was quickly finished, and the gym leaders sent out a psychic bird together with a psychic-ground doll for battle.

 _'Kratos and I will go. I can handle the bird, Snap should save his energy for later in case there are other opponents that has the capability to fly. Let Kratos and I scout out their strength.'_

With that said, Toothless grabbed an unwilling Kratos, who was still trying to resist his grip, and flew down to the arena for battle in a loud roar.

 _'Toothless is eager, isn't he?'_

 _'He just wants to redeem himself, Snap. I think it helps to relieve some of the guilt he felt even if Vel had already knocked sense into him.'_

 _'They better win this. It will be so embarrassing for us if they don't.'_

 _'Don't worry, Kel. They will win.'_

* * *

 _'Toothless! Stop using me as a shield for everything!'_

 _'It's convenient.'_

 _'Why you-'_

Kratos was cut off from his tirade as Toothless picked him up once more to block an Ancient Power from the psychic-ground doll.

 _'There, see? This is the best arrangement for the both of us. I attack, you defend. Besides, those rocks it threw barely scratched you.'_

The psychic bird tried to use a Psychic on the bickering duo only for Kratos to disrupt it with a Dark Pulse.

 _'I don't mind WHAT role I'm placed into, but it's HOW you use me that is the problem, you stupid lizard!'_

 _'Shoot out some more Dark Pulse before they overwhelm us with more psychic attacks. GO KRATOS! FIRER, WATCH YOUR FRONT! TARGET: 20 METERS AHEAD! FIRE! PEWPEWPEW!'_

Toothless held Kratos in front of him like a gun as Kratos had no choice but to systematically fire off a barrage of Dark Pulses before they were overwhelmed once again with psychic attacks. Back at the hospital, most of the free time the team spent in the clearing with Velda outside of training was either napping in the shade or watching some human TV drama series together with Velda through a small portable screen. Toothless was very interested in the contraption called a "gun", since it can shoot out small bursts of fire. Kratos blamed his current predicament on the many human TV drama series Toothless had watched together with Vel back at the hospital.

 _'TOOTHLESS!'_

 _'I'm going in to attack the bird, cover me.'_

Toothless dropped Kratos back onto the ground unceremoniously as it roared and charged at the psychic bird while bathing itself in flames. The psychic-ground doll tried to unleash a Rock Tomb to trap Toothless, but its rocks were blasted into smithereens from Kratos's Stone Edge.

 _'I'm your opponent! Stupid psychic doll!'_

With a savage cry, Kratos charged at the psychic-ground doll and let out a ear-piercing Screech that forced the doll to back off. Kratos took this time to increase his speed with Rock Polish. He needs every advantage that he could get.

Kratos used the Focus Rock technique as he sent pebbles flying at the doll at high speeds. The doll stopped them effortlessly with its psychic powers. Kratos's eye twitched in annoyance. His ground type moves are rendered useless by the doll's ability to levitate while his rock type moves are stopped with psychic attacks. He still hasn't managed to get to the point where he is able to control rocks as freely as Bigblue and Lily.

That leaves him with the few dark type attacks that he knew as the only attacks he could use to damage the stupid doll.

 _'Hey Kratos, I need you to use Taunt on the both of them! This stupid bird kept healing itself! Can you do it?!_ '

Kratos grumbled under his breath as he dodged a Solar Beam from the psychic doll and used Taunt on both the bird and the doll. He sprang back towards the psychic doll while firing Dark Pulses. Toothless is the only one among them with the offensive powers to put them down for good. All Kratos needs to do is to buy time for Toothless to finish the bird before they crush the damn doll.

Kratos was still forced to go on the defensive despite the aggressive attacks he shot towards the psychic doll. The psychic doll is adept at defensive techniques, more so than him, and has more offensive powers than him as well. Kratos held his frustration back, he is still new to the team and he hasn't grow into his full potential yet. It is normal to be pushed back on battles of this calibre but he doesn't like it. He prefers to destroy his foes with brute force.

 _'Watch out!'_

Kratos felt himself being pulled back by Toothless just in time as the psychic bird suddenly teleported beside him and tried to hammer him with a Zen Headbutt. The psychic doll followed up immediately with a wave of Psychic only for Toothless to destroy it with a Shadow Claw.

 _'Hey! You were capable of defending yourself all along! You are just too lazy to do it yourself! STOP using me as a shield!'_

 _'Details.'_ Toothless waved it off casually with a dismissal wave of his claws. _'And I just saved you, didn't I? I'm not that good in using Shadow Claw so that's why I needed your help to defend ourselves from their psychic attacks earlier. Have you noticed? The trainers of these two psychics haven't visibly give any commands to them but yet they act as if they are under their command. That Teleport was too nicely timed for it to be anything but done with the help of their trainers. I think they are talking telepathically to their trainers.'_

 _'So what? It's not like we didn't know what we are getting ourselves into when we decided to do this for Vel. Nothing's changed.'_

Toothless snorted. _'Remember what Vel used to tell you all the time? Everything has a weakness. There must be downsides to using telepathic links, we just need to find it. But that's not our job for this battle. I think I know by now the extent of the strength of the psychic bird.'_ Toothless unleashed a wave of flames at their opponent that wrapped itself around them in a Fire Spin, blocking their vision of them. _'Your ground type techniques are useless against them and your rock type techniques are stopped by their Psychic. However, this only means that your techniques can work on them if they do not have the time to react to it. Why else will they stop it? Right now we just need an element of surprise. I'm not suited for the job, you are. You need to get near to them quickly before they realise it. Aim for the bird. We will take it out first. I have a plan.'_

 _'I'm not going to like what you are planning, am I?'_

 _'No, but it helps to end this battle quickly. Are you in or not?'_

 _'Fine. Just what are you planning anyway?'_

Toothless said nothing as he increased the amount of flames that wrapped around their foes with another dose of Fire Spin. He grabbed Kratos and flew up high into the air. From their vantage point above, they saw their opponents blocking the damage from Toothless's Fire Spin with a dome made up of Light Screen, waiting for the flames to die down.

 _'Remember baseball? Vel taught us the game some time back at Lilycove before the attack. I am the pitcher, you are the ball.'_

 _'TOOTHLESS!'_

 _'Have fun.'_ Toothless grinned as he cocked his arms back with a struggling Kratos in his grip. _'Remember to use a Brick Break to break their Light Screen before landing followed by a Smack Down on the bird. It will be easier for us this way.'_

 _'THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT A KING! I WILL KILL YOU AFTER THIS BATTLE! I SWEAR IT!'_

 _'Aww, love you too. Remember, Brick Break and Smack Down. See ya.'_

To everyone's else surprise, Toothless threw Kratos downwards with Fling, and Kratos sped down towards their foes like a crashing meteor due to the force of the throw. Kratos forced his way through the Light Screen with a Brick Break and crashed onto the psychic bird with a Smack Down, pinning it onto the floor. The psychic doll tried to rescue its ally, but was forced to dodge the Flamethrower from Toothless as he flew down and stood in its way. Toothless slashed at the psychic doll with Shadow Claws while spitting flames, trying to buy time for Kratos to finish the psychic bird.

 _'Kratos! Hurry! I can't hold the doll back for long!'_

Kratos said nothing as he opened his jaws and coated it with dark energy before chomping down on the bird with a Crunch. The bird screeched in pain as Kratos immediately followed up his attack with an Assurance. He blasted the psychic bird with a few huge beams of Dark Pulses just to be on the safe side, he doesn't want to be thrown by Toothless again.

Seeing that the psychic bird was down, Kratos immediately launched himself at the psychic doll and fired off Dark Pulses to aid Toothless. Thanks to Kratos's sneak attack, Toothless had managed to get a few good hits in with Shadow Claw that injured it critically. Toothless immediately unleashed another Inferno that caused the doll to scream in pain. The doll used a Stone Edge to gain distance between itself and the two of them before glowing a bright white.

 _'Arceus, it's an Explosion!'_

 _'What are you waiting for?! Defend!'_

Kratos and Toothless immediately raised walls of stone for defense just as the psychic doll exploded itself, buying just enough time as they managed to surround themselves in a sphere of Protect.

 _'Looks like we win this round, Kratos.'_

 _'Throw me one more time, and I will eat you alive when I finally evolve.'_

 _'Yea, sorry about that, but I just couldn't resist. You were the perfect candidate to be a ball too.'_

Kratos almost lost control of himself to throttle Toothless, but was interrupted as the gym leaders sent out another two psychic pokemons out to battle.

 _'I see a psychic-steel bell-like thing, and a floating mass of green liquid-jelly thing with an occupant inside. What are they?!'_

 _'I don't know, Kratos, but I don't think they are from this region. HEY! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS?!'_

The psychic bell remained silent, but the floating mass of green liquid-jelly looked very pissed by their attitude.

 _'I am a reuniclus, you barbarians! And my pal there is a bronzong! We will destroy you for your uncouth manners!'_

 _'Gosh, another Rena, or are all psychics like that?'_ Toothless remarked as he dodged a Shadow Ball from the reuniclus with Kratos safe in his claws. _'Thank Arceus we don't have any more psychics on our team. They are so stuck-up.'_

 _'I'm actually on their side for this one, Toothless. You need to work on your attitude.'_

 _'Shut up. That psychic bell thing is obviously a steel type. I'm going to melt him.'_

Toothless flew into the air with Kratos as he sucked in a deep breath before unleashing a massive Flamethrower at their new opponents, who did nothing but receive their attacks head-on.

 _'Toothless, your flames aren't working.'_

Toothless grunted in frustration as the psychic bell just raised a shield of Light Screen and remained unaffected by the heat of his flames. The reuniclus simply healed faster than the damage Toothless inflicted on it with Recover. Toothless continued to increase the intensity of his flames, unleashing a Heat Wave this time but it doesn't seem to have any visible results.

 _'That reuni-something is like another Lily, Toothless. He healed way too fast.'_

 _'I think that psychic bell thing has the Heatproof ability. There's nothing else that I can think of on why it seems unaffected by my flames. Light Screen can't possibly block off that much damage. Vel had warned me before when facing enemies with Thick Fat or Heatproof as their ability. I think we need to switch out, you?'_

 _'Yea, we need to switch. I don't think we can handle these guys. The others might have a way.'_

 _'Good. I will buy some time for us to get back.'_

Toothless spewed out a black cloud of smoke with Smokescreen before flying out of the arena with Kratos in his arms.

 _'We can't defeat those two! They are too good in defense! Watch out for the green one, he can heal as fast as Lily!'_

 _'Another one with healing abilities like me? Bigblue, shall we?'_

 _'Let's go.'_

* * *

Bigblue and Lily entered the arena and observed their opponents. The psychic bell had actually managed to withstand Toothless's flames despite being a steel type and they had mentioned that the green one have the ability to heal as fast as Lily.

 _'Let me gauge their strength first.'_

Bigblue called upon a huge wall of Muddy Water that he sent crashing down onto their foes below and used Work Up to increase his offensive powers in the meantime. Lily took the opportunity to Stockpile, trying to store as many Stockpile as possible while they still have the time.

The psychic bell redirected the Muddy Water away from it and the green liquid-jelly pokemon with a Psychic and enveloped the entire area with psychic energy, enclosing the entire arena in a rectangular room of psychic energy.

 _'It's no slouch in defense. But what's it doing trapping us in the arena? It's not like we are allowed to move out of it in the first place.'_

 _'Only one way to find out.'_

Bigblue sent a wave of Stone Edges at their opponents which the green psychic jelly quickly warded off with a Reflect. Lily sent out a beam of ghostly energy of Confuse Ray in an attempt to confuse their foes but the psychic bell suddenly managed to fire off a huge blast of Flash Cannon faster than what it can realistically do. Lily aborted her attack and raised a thick wall of rocks to shield themselves before grabbing Bigblue with her tentacles and pulling him away from the blast zone together with her using Rock Surf.

 _'How did it managed to attack faster than us?! There's no way it can charge up Flash Cannon in that short amount of time! That Reflect was also materialised way too quickly! That green thing is definitely not skilled enough to use Reflect that quickly! Even Rena's not capable of that!_ '

 _'I think it's the psychic room they trapped the entire arena in, Lily. Vel had told me before the existence of such a move. It matches the description. I think it's called Trick Room. It allows slower pokemons to move first within the area. In this case, these two are the slower pokemons, hence they will always move first as long as this room is active.'_

 _'So we can only be on the defensive the whole time?! How are we going to win at this rate?!'_

 _'This may not be a bad thing. Just wait it out and see first. I don't think they can maintain the room for too long, using it on such a big area has to be tiring for the psychic bell.'_

Lily was forced to respond with Energy Balls just as the green psychic jelly threw a number of Shadow Balls at them. Bigblue used Earth Power to erupt the ground under their foes while receiving an Extrasensory from the Psychic Bell. Faster than what they could react, the psychic bell began to spin at high speeds on the spot before ramming into the both of them and threw them back with a Gyro Ball. Things are not looking good.

 _'Not a bad thing? Bigblue? Are you sure about that?'_

 _'Is it too late to take back my words?'_

 _'Incoming!'_

Bigblue unleashed a freezing storm of Blizzard just as the psychic bell shot an intense beam of Solar Beam faster than what it should be physically capable of. Lily tripped the psychic bell with a Grass Knot, causing the psychic bell to miss its aim and shot the Solar Beam at the ceiling instead. Bigblue's Blizzard froze the psychic bell, encasing it with ice. The psychic jelly swiftly broke the ice with an Energy Ball of its own, freeing the psychic bell.

 _'The speed at which they use their attacks is too fast! We hardly have anytime to react! They cover each other so well too!'_

 _'Then we need to split them up. Let's try to change the battlefield, it's what we are good at anyway.'_

Wordlessly, the two of them liquefied the ground immediately. Lily allowed Bigblue to do most of the work since he is better at ground type techniques, and they sent a huge part of the liquefied ground like a roaring tidal wave towards their psychic opponents, trying to command the wave of liquid ground to drown their foes and drag them underneath the ground. The psychic jelly forcefully stopped the liquid ground from reaching them with a huge wave of Psychic, only for Lily's tentacles to burst through the liquid ground, wrapped themselves around the psychic bell, and pulled it closer to Lily and Bigblue at an alarming speed.

 _'Eat this!'_

Bigblue shot out a powerful jet of steaming hot water at the psychic bell and sent it flying far away from its ally with Scald. The psychic jelly tried to save its friend, but found itself face-to-face with Lily, who had managed to reach it with Rock Surf and whipped her tentacles at it in a frenzy, forcing the psychic jelly to back off. Lily continued her furious onslaught against the psychic jelly, trying to grab it with her tentacles while she shot rocks and Energy Balls at it. The psychic jelly hissed at Lily and fired an overpowered Shadow Ball at Lily, only for Lily to withstood the attack and sent it back at double the power with Mirror Coat.

 _'Bigblue's right, it may not be a bad thing after all to let you guys have the first move.'_

Even while speaking her thoughts out loud, Lily's tentacles were not idle. Her tentacles caught the psychic jelly who is still reeling in pain from the reflection of its own attacks back at it. The psychic jelly quickly blasted Lily with a Psywave thanks to the speed granted by Trick Room in an attempt to try and regain its freedom, but Lily remained surprisingly unfazed as she withstood the attacks and secretly planted a Worry Seed followed before injecting a huge dose of Toxic into the psychic jelly and used a Wring Out, causing the psychic jelly to scream in pain. Lily also realised that the Trick Room is no longer in effect, Bigblue must have managed to either defeat the psychic bell or disrupted its focus.

 _'Let me go!'_

 _'So you finally decided to speak. It was hard enough trying to separate you from your friend over there, I'm not letting the both of you to regroup.'_

The psychic jelly quickly regained its health with a Recover and Lily followed its example, but Lily will always use a Wring Out that deals more damage whenever the psychic jelly is near perfect health right after they both use Recover. The psychic jelly will try to untangle itself from Lily, but no matter what attacks it used, Lily just wouldn't let go.

The battle had turned into a battle of attrition.

Both parties would heal up their wounds whenever they got low on health and proceed to blast each other with their own attacks until they were both low on health again, and they would heal themselves back up again before repeating this vicious cycle. The psychic jelly tried to get out of the vicious cycle by changing its attack patterns. After experiencing Lily's Mirror Coat, the psychic jelly had resorted to using physical attacks and tried to punch Lily only for Lily to grab both its arms tightly, not allowing it to move. The psychic jelly used a Heal Block to prevent Lily from healing only for Lily to use a Mimic to return the favour. The psychic jelly is now truly afraid, there is nothing it can do while getting itself caught by the tentacles and unable to heal. Its health was getting rapidly drained from poison. This is not possible!

 _'Why?! Why is your poison affecting me! I'm supposed to be protected by my Magic Guard!'_

 _'I planted a Worry Seed on you while you weren't looking, your ability is no longer whatever-it-is guard. Vel had always said it is usually better to secretly plant such moves on your opponent when they belonged to the Mind Arts Trio, you never know when they have such ridiculous abilities. I'm glad she taught me that knowledge. You can heal as fast as I do, maybe even faster. You have temporarily blocked my ability to heal but I did the same for yours. We are supposedly to be in the same circumstances, unable to take each other down due to our similar way of fighting defensively through ridiculous healing speeds. But the poison in your body is getting more lethal by the second no matter how much you heal. You are going down.'_

The psychic jelly didn't reply as it used Calm Mind successively to raise its offensive and defensive powers before charging up a huge Hyper Beam, intent on taking Lily out even before she can retaliate with a Mirror Coat in a last ditch attempt to win.

 _'Fool. Do you never stop to think why I was able to withstand all of your attacks in the first place?'_

In a single burst, Lily released all of her power it had stored with Stockpile ever since the start of her battle with a Spit up, knocking the psychic jelly out of their battle.

 _'I have never stopped Stockpiling since the start of our battle. Vel taught me to always have a secret move to surprise your opponents, you will do well to remember that as well.'_

* * *

The psychic bell was vicious in its attacks ever since it was forcefully separated from the psychic jelly. Thankfully, without the help of the psychic jelly, its offensive abilities isn't notable enough to be a significant threat other than the Solar Beam. All Bigblue had to take note of is how to get past its defense while defending himself from the Solar Beams. Vel had trained him on how to block and dodge Solar Beams during their stay at Petalburg gym with help from Lily and Flamel so he wasn't as helpless as a sitting psyduck, but it was still annoying trying to deal with the psychic bell that can throw Solar Beams without even getting winded.

Bigblue had given up on trying to drown it with water unless he can catch the psychic bell by surprise, the psychic bell simply diverted the waters away from itself before the waters can reach it. That leaves him with the physical moves, but most of them does not do much damage to the psychic bell due to it being a steel type as well. Furthermore, there's this Trick Room that allows the psychic bell to attack first no matter what.

What an annoying opponent to face.

Bigblue steeled himself, he is one of the best defensive battlers on Vel's team and he has a different way of battling defensively as compared to Lily. Unlike Lily who tends to win by using recovery moves repeatedly while dragging out the time to allow her prey to fall to poison or Giga Drain, Bigblue uses the strength of his opponents to bring them down. The stronger the opponents are, the stronger Bigblue gets, as long as he can withstand the attacks.

Bigblue allowed himself to be hit by a Psyshock, before returning fire with a huge Avalanche, an attack which gains power if the user took damage prior to using this move. Any physical attack Bigblue received was sent back with a Counter, forcing the psychic bell to keep its distance away from Bigblue and tried to attack Bigblue using ranged attacks. Any attacks Bigblue was not confident of taking were either dodged or blocked with a Protect while he returned attacks of his own with Mud Shot or Earth Power. Bigblue knows he have to play this carefully, there are very little attacks he knew that can effectively damage the psychic bell thanks to its steel typing, but bringing it down isn't impossible. The process is just tricky. He needs to bait the psychic bell to use one strong ranged attack and destroy it with its own power. It is a tactic that both he and Lily are capable of using, but Lily prefers to use her recovery moves rather than to fall back on this tactic.

The Trick Room had disappeared when Bigblue had first used an Avalanche to damage the psychic bell and the two of them went back and forth in this manner for a short while with Bigblue keeping up the pressure of his attacks to prevent another use of Trick Room from the psychic bell. Bigblue tried to use a Yawn to lure the psychic bell to fall asleep, only for it to defend itself with a Safeguard before retreating further away from Bigblue and continue to blast Solar Beams at him. Fortunately, the psychic bell did not use Sunny Day and Bigblue realised that it must be wary of that move backfiring on it due to Lily's presence since she is a grass type.

This realisation reminded Bigblue to start up a Rain Dance of his own and he used the power boost from the rain to use an empowered Muddy Water. The psychic bell still managed to divert the waters away from it using its psychic powers, but recognised the threat that Bigblue posed and finally decided to end the battle with one single attack.

Finally.

The psychic bell quickly strengthen itself with a Calm Mind before charging up one of the largest Solar Beams Bigblue had ever seen.

 _'I really hope I survive this.'_

Bigblue dashed forward towards the psychic bell while preparing himself for the combo which Vel had taught him. It is used only if there is no other viable way to bring down his opponents. She nicknamed it the 'do-or-die combo' due to the fact that it will either succeed beautifully, or fail horribly.

Bigblue was only about twenty feet away from the psychic bell when it unleashed the huge flare of Solar Beam at him. The light from the Solar Beam blinded the entire arena as it continued to fire at Bigblue's location. The psychic bell kept on its attack, happy that it can finally put its challenger down.

Its mood quickly plummeted as the Solar Beam was suddenly redirected into its direction and blast at it instead, sending him flying into a large rock that Bigblue had called up from the ground early on at the start of their double battle.

 _'Huff...huff... I really hate Solar Beams.'_

 _'You are late, Bigblue.'_

 _'Lily? When did you finish your battle?'_

 _'Just right before that Solar Beam was fired at you, was that a Mirror Coat?'_

 _'Yeah, I used Endure before using a Mirror Coat right away to send that stupid beam of sunlight back. Mirror Coat can be substituted with Counter if needed, but that's not important. Is that psychic bell out?'_

 _'It is. Get ready, our next wave of opponents are coming.'_

* * *

Liza watched in amazement as Velda's pokemons managed to defeat four of their pokemons. Xatu and claydol were at the higher end of the advanced level while reuniclus and bronzong were at the lower end of the Elite level. It's not surprising that xatu and claydol were taken out, but it was surprising to see reuniclus and bronzong being brought down together at almost the same time. Tate and her would not usually use reuniclus and bronzong on advanced trainers, their recovery and defensive powers is a pain for anyone to deal with without the proper skillset and experience.

Not only had Velda's pokemons taken out the aforementioned four pokemons without the help of their trainer, none of the pokemons who had participated in battle had fainted yet.

It looks like they need to get serious if they want to bring Velda's pokemons down.

"Tate."

"I know, we can read each other's thoughts, remember?"

* * *

Bigblue and Lily barely had any time to rest as two floating psychic-rock pokemons appeared for battle. The aura that these two pokemons gave off was a lot stronger than the previous four pokemons they had seen. In fact, their presences were very similar to what they had felt from the battle they had at Fortree when they have faced the formidable duo of flying type pokemons, even if they were obviously not as strong.

 _'Lily, I think we just got...what did Vel call it? The short end of the stick? Again.'_

 _'Just heal yourself first, I will cover you.'_

Bigblue wasted no time in using Rest to recover his lost health from the previous battle as Lily swiftly regained her own health with Recover, the effect of Heal Block from the previous battle had disappeared.

The orange psychic pokemon dispersed the rain clouds summoned by Bigblue with a Sunny Day and started to fire beams of Solar Beam at Bigblue. Lily simply grabbed the sleeping Bigblue with her tentacles as she skated gracefully around the battlefield with Rock Surf, dodging the attacks and blocked any lucky shots with Protect.

A Sleep Talk from Bigblue summoned a huge wave of water using Surf. The crescent-shaped psychic rock simply stopped the water from advancing with a Psychic and sent the waters back at Lily and Bigblue effortlessly. Lily used an Amnesia to raise its defensive powers against ranged attacks before creating a thick dome made of rocks around her and Bigblue, hunkering down in a temporary underwater shelter and preparing for their next attacks.

The orange psychic evaporated the waters at the blink of an eye with its fire type attacks and blasted the dome open with another Solar Beam, only to find it empty of its occupants. Where did they go?

Its question was answered as tentacles shot up from the ground and wrapped itself around the crescent psychic as Lily emerged from the underground with one of its tentacles around Bigblue, allowing him to carry her underground with Dig. Bigblue is now awake and fully recovered. Lily got off Bigblue and wrapped a tentacle around him before throwing him at the orange psychic with great force. The orange psychic tried to blast Bigblue back with a Solar Beam, only for Bigblue to use Battering Ram and slam himself into the orange psychic without any damage to himself.

Both Bigblue and Lily injected a dose of Toxic into their respective opponents just before they managed to free themselves at launched a combined Psychic attack at them. Lily moved to stand in front of Bigblue and raised her defense once more with Amnesia before sending the Psychic attacks back with a Mirror Coat, but the two psychics used a Protect of their own to block the damage.

Even after using two Amnesias and numerous Stockpiles to raise her defenses to extremely high levels, Lily was almost taken out in that combined Psychic attack.

Lily swiftly recover her lost health with a quick Swallow as Bigblue carried her to safety using only one arm as the crescent psychic shot freezing beams of ice at them. They are outmatched.

 _'Bigblue, we can recover our lost health as much as we want but it doesn't take away our fatigue. We are too mentally exhausted to continue battling in this manner against foes like these. We will slip up sooner or later.'_

 _'I agree, I think Dolly and Snap can takeover for now. I don't think they can bring those two down by themselves, but there's still four of us left to help them if they fell in battle. We have also used Toxic on those two but they haven't remove the poison. I guess it's safe to say that those two does not know any moves that can help to remove the poison from their bodies.'_

In response, Lily simply grabbed onto a large rock near the edge of the arena and hauled herself and Bigblue out of the arena through a small opening in the psychic barriers surrounding the arena. The gym leaders had kindly opened a small hole in the barrier for them for their own use before the start of the gym battle in case they wanted to switch out. Bigblue gestured to Dolly and Snap, who entered the arena to replace their tired comrades. It's their turn to fight for Velda.

They won't let Velda and the team down.

* * *

Tate and Liza observed as the swampert and cradily switched out with flygon and banette. These are not pokemons that they saw and battled against often. Banettes are not highly favoured among both civilians and trainers and hardly anyone wants to venture into the harsh desert at Route 111 to catch themselves a flygon. Most of them prefer to get themselves a bagon or shelgon from Meteor Falls instead.

Using the telepathic link shared between Liza, Tate, Sunny, and Moony, Tate and Liza commanded Sunny and Moony to raise their powers with Calm Mind. To their surprise, both Sunny and Moony were unable to do so.

 _'It's the banette! It used Taunt on Sunny and Moony!'_

Liza turned her attention to the banette, who is zipping in and out of the shadows that was created by the sunlight from Sunny's Sunny Day and the numerous debris strewn across the battlefield. The banette is good at distracting Sunny and Moony, allowing the flygon to fire its dragon type attacks at the both of them. The banette is too slippery to catch, the flygon will be an easier target to handle.

 _'Moony, Blizzard!'_

Moony rose higher into the air as it called forth a raging Blizzard to attack the flygon. The flygon unleashed a Heat Wave which was strengthened by Sunny's Sunny Day. The two attacks cancelled each other out. Banette took the opportunity to use a Hex on the unsuspecting Sunny, who backed off and shot a burning cone of Flamethrower at the banette who ducked back into the shadows.

Flygon suddenly switch its target and aimed for Sunny instead with a Dragon Pulse. Tate and Liza surmised that the flygon must have gotten wary of Moony's proficiency in using ice type attacks and decided to fight Sunny instead. The banette cackled and sent Shadow Balls at Moony, who dodged it by weaving through the air. The banette simply cackled once more as it sent a Confuse Ray at Moony who destroyed the beam of ghostly energy with Shadow Ball. The flygon regrouped with banette, who rode on flygon's back as flygon brought them high into the air.

Then banette unleashed a massive Dark Pulse combined with Ominous Wind.

What's different about this particular Dark Pulse mixed with Ominous Wind is that it does not aim to injure, but rather release a huge wave of dark and ghost type energy that lingers in the area which it was unleashed upon. The dark and ghost type energy blanketed the area and the entire arena was fogged with translucent blackness like a miasma.

It cut off any telepathic links shared between Tate, Liza, and their pokemons.

Without the mental command of their trainers, Sunny and Moony were forced to be on the defensive for a short while as they try to understand what had just happened. Tate and Liza had no choice but to verbally command their starters. Tate and Liza are still able to be of a single mind as they are out of the affected area but that no longer applies to Sunny and Moony, and they are starting to show signs of imperfect coordination with each other. Their coordination with each other are no longer as precise as what they are capable of and there are lags in executing their trainer's verbal command as compared to their usual telepathic links.

Banette made full use of the darkness that it created as its domain. It is nigh impossible to pin it down now. The flygon flew in the air at high speeds as it tried to blast Sunny and Moony with Dragon Breaths and box them in with rocks it summoned with Rock Tomb. Sunny and Moony are still able to withstand the lethal poison of Toxic they were inflicted by swampert and cradily earlier for a long while as they fought with banette and flygon. Their psychic attacks were obviously disrupted by the miasma of dark and ghost type energy lingering around and it wasn't as potent as before. Tate and Liza need to think of ways to get rid of the miasma.

"Moony! Blizzard! Sunny! Heat Wave! Flood the area!"

Moony used its powers to summon a cold wave of wind within the gym. The combination of Blizzard and Heat Wave caused the ice from Blizzard to melt from the heat of Heat Wave, and the ice melted as it fell onto the arena in a massive downpour of rain. Velda's espeon had shielded the entire team in the challenger box from the rain with both Reflect and Light Screen _(How did they all managed to fit in there?)_. Steven, who hasn't moved a finger since the start of the battle, had let out his skarmory who used one of its massive wings to shield him from the rain as well.

The massive rain had flooded the entire arena with rain water as the water levels began to rise. Sunny and Moony had raised tall walls of stone along the borders of the arena, and the water that fell inside it had started to accumulated to form a small lake that covered the entire arena.

"Sunny! Heat the waters! Moony, cool the air! Storm combo!"

Sunny made a noise of acknowledgement as it dove into the waters and began to rapidly heat the waters from within with a Heat Wave, causing steam to rise into the air. Moony floated high into the air, calling forth a snowstorm at the top of the air. Banette and flygon were at their end of the arena, watching the proceedings warily and undecided on what to do.

The warm air had a higher air pressure and pushed into the area of lower pressure above where the air is cooled by Moony's Blizzard. As the warm air continued to rise from the waters, the surrounding cold air around it started to swirl in to take its place. The moist air that had rose cooled off and the water within it starts to form clouds once more, the whole system of clouds and rapid wind spun and grew, fueled by the heat from the waters and the water evaporating from the artificial lake.

Sunny and Moony had created a massive artificial hurricane as it started to rotate faster and faster, sucking in the miasma created from the banette. Their telepathic links were reestablished with their trainers once more and their psychic powers were now unhindered and freed.

The rain had stopped by now. Using their regained psychic powers, Sunny and Moony sent the artificial hurricane at flygon and banette, who had now realised what they were planning to do all along.

Flygon gave a roar as it immediately summoned a sandstorm with a single flap of its powerful wings and created an artificial sand-filled hurricane of its own with Sand Tomb. The banette aided flygon by adding its Ominous Wind into flygon's creation, giving flygon's hurricane extra speed and rotate even more violently.

The two artificial forces of nature clashed and exploded violently. The winds from the explosion tore through the arena, ripping chunks of rock as they flew into the air and banged against the psychic barriers, which is barely holding the brunt of the explosion of violent winds. Some of the winds leaked out from the barrier as trainers and pokemons outside it braced and held onto something to prevent them from flying off their spot. Tate and Liza gripped onto the handrails while Steven's skarmory stood protectively in front of his trainer and cut the violent winds that approached them with an Air Slash. Steven just remained sitting in his position back at the spectator's box unmoving and without a single hair out of place.

A Dragon Pulse shot through the air and blasted into Sunny as it was sent flying backwards a short distance before it recovered its balance. Banette appeared behind Moony with Phantom Force and used another Taunt followed by a Hex and disappeared into the shadows once more and attacking Sunny with a Shadow Sneak combined with Taunt. The banette isn't giving any time for Sunny and Moony to power up or heal, forcing them to stick with attacking moves.

They need to take the banette down, no matter how slippery and difficult it is to be pinned down.

Moony eyes glowed as it prepared a Future Sight while Sunny tried to force banette out of the shadows on the ground with an Earthquake. Banette emerged from the shadows before Sunny's Earthquake landed and stopped it with a Shadow Ball, retreating behind flygon as it continued to shoot Dragon Breaths and Dragon Pulses while flying in the air.

Grass grew out from the crevices in the ground as it quickly elongated and wrapped itself around flygon with a Grass Knot. Flygon quickly burnt them off with a Flamethrower, but the delay was enough for Sunny to bash into it with an Iron Head and separate it from banette. Moony appeared before banette and activated Future Sight. Banette screamed out in pain as it was severely injured with Future Sight, but mitigated the damage with a Pain Split and shared its pain with Moony.

Flygon managed to land a Dragon Tail onto Sunny and sent it far away from it. Banette is still fighting a dangerous battle with Moony, who is preventing banette from ducking back into the shadows with the attacks it rained down on banette. Flygon flew high into the air before charging up a dangerous amount of draconic energy at the front of its opened mouth.

It planned to take down both Sunny and Moony with a Draco Meteor even if banette is caught in the crossfire.

 _'Sunny! Moony! Get out of there!'_

Sunny and Moony barely had time to retreat to safety as they quickly retreated backwards as the Draco Meteors rained down from above, indiscriminately destroying everything in its way and destroyed the entire arena. Sunny and Moony had managed to escape it by sticking together and floating high above. They coated themselves with a Light Screen, banette was nowhere to be seen. Flygon was panting on the ground, trying to recover from the use of Draco Meteor.

Moony took the opportunity to snipe flygon with an Ice Beam which was blocked by flygon who raised a block of stone from the ground with Stone Edge. Banette suddenly appeared between Sunny and Moony and forced them to separate once more as it blasted Shadow Balls at them. Sunny tried to nail it with a Flamethrower only to destroy an after-image of banette which was produced by its Double Team. Moony was suddenly blasted into the ground when banette suddenly appeared above it with Phantom Force and knocked it down with a Shadow Ball. Flygon had recovered by now and attacked Sunny with a Thunder Punch, preventing Sunny from attacking banette. Sunny took the opportunity to get close to flygon and attacked it with a Flare Blitz. It proved to be a mistake as flygon braved through the attacks and held a struggling Sunny with its claws before chomping down on it with a sickening Crunch, not letting Sunny go.

Sunny screamed in pain as flygon flew high while it kept up on releasing dark type energy from Crunch into Sunny using its fangs. Flygon used a Laser Focus and it charged up a Draco Meteor once more with Sunny still held by its mouth. Sunny's rocky hide had started to crack from the continuous use of Crunch and it was writhing in pain from both the Crunch and toxins from Toxic. Tate's and Liza's heartbeat started to hastened. Sunny is starting to weaken from the prolonged exposure to Toxic. There's no way it can withstand a Draco Meteor at point-blank range that is powered up by a Laser Focus after getting mauled by flygon's Crunch.

 _'Moony! Save Sunny!'_

Moony separated itself from its battle with banette as it dashed off trying to save its comrade. Banette reappeared in front of it with a Shadow Sneak and forced it to back off with a Hex.

The Draco Meteor was fired once more as the collective energy of it was directed onto Sunny and sent it blasting into the ground below. Flygon looked thoroughly spent as it floated down onto the ground trying to catch its breath, but looking proud of itself for taking Sunny down.

And that's its downfall for underestimating Sunny's capabilities.

A massive Psychic attacked flygon and it roared in pain from the surprise attack from Sunny. Sunny kept up its attacks on flygon and brought it down moments later. Sunny had managed to block the damage with a Protect despite the dark type energy running through its body due to flygon's Crunch. Sunny was battered from receiving the full impact of Draco Meteor despite blocking its damage, and its hide started to crack in several places. Sunny is also tired from battling due to the damage it received and the toxin in its body, its ability to levitate is starting to fail as it wobbled around in the air.

Banette screeched in rage as it appeared behind Sunny with Phantom Force and unleashed a barrage of Shadow Balls on Sunny. Moony moved in to defend Sunny but banette slipped past it with either a Shadow Sneak or Phantom Force and locked onto Sunny as its target. It didn't relent and continued to blast Sunny with her ghost type attacks and finally nailed Sunny with a huge blast of Dark Pulse.

Sunny was finally brought down.

Tate recalled Sunny back into its pokeball. This was an unexpected outcome. The flygon was strong, but the banette is a bigger problem than they thought if it actually managed to bring Sunny down, even if it was already in a weakened state.

Banette doesn't seem to care for its well-being as it engaged Moony in a vicious battle and the psychic twins guessed that it must have lost its mind in a fit of rage after flygon was brought down. Velda's cradily had pulled the unconscious flygon out of the arena and rejoined the battle once again. However, it does not have the opportunity to help banette as its battle with Moony is so fierce that there were no openings for it to intervene for fear of attacking banette by mistake. Moony unleashed massive waves of psychic attacks on banette, confident that it can finally bring it down. Its eyes subtly glowed once more as it prepared another Future Sight.

The Future Sight was unleashed and banette screamed in pain once more. This time, however, the banette gave Moony a smirk as the outline of its body glowed briefly with ghostly energy before the same happened to Moony.

 _No way._

Tate and Liza watched in shock as Moony was brought down together with banette by banette's Destiny Bond. It was only now that they realised that banette only appeared to lose its mind. Everything that happened so far after flygon was defeated was carefully planned. It goaded Moony to engage it in a full-blown battle and it succeeded. Despite the type disadvantage, Moony is still leaps and bounds ahead of banette when it comes to raw power and it was the reason why it willingly engaged banette in a straight on fight, knowing that it can win banette if the battle is a one vs one single battle. It tricked Tate, Liza and Moony to unleash a finishing blow on it so that it can bring Moony down with a single move.

Velda had actually completed the entire Mossdeep gym challenge without even giving a single command to her pokemons. In fact, she had somehow managed to sleep through this entire ordeal and is still asleep, leaning onto her rapidash, which have laid down on the ground behind her for her to lean her body on instead of lying down on the hard and comfortable floor.

 _'Gym leaders, I believe our team had won.'_

 _'Yes, you all did.'_ Tate responded on behalf of him and Liza. _'Please wake your trainer up. We wish to present her the spoils of her victory while she's awake. I don't think there's any need for her to remain sleeping any longer. The "medical reason" is not the only reason why you put her to sleep, isn't it? The absol hasn't even moved once from her side despite all the commotion that's happening around you guys. You are afraid of us. You are afraid of our psychic powers, to be more specific. You are afraid of us, or any psychics here, probing into your trainer's mind whether it is by accident or not. I can tell that much by feeling how absol's dark type powers wrapped around her. It looks well-trained and is the most logical candidate to send out against us in battle, but yet you guys did not let her out and settled for letting it remain beside your trainer. What are you hiding?'_

The espeon bristled loudly, looking enraged. The rest of Velda's team picked up on its change of mood and stood protectively in front of their trainer, ready to fight. The members of Tate's and Liza's main team willingly released themselves from their pokeballs using their psychic powers after sensing the animosity that was directed to their trainers. The winds in the arena picked up once more as it seems that there will be another unavoidable battle.

A large skarmory screeched as it flew into the middle of the wrecked arena, bringing everyone's attention onto it. Steven stood on top of skarmory with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face.

"Stand. **Down**. The whole lot of you."

A crushing wind pressure was released as skarmory flapped its wings towards both sides, sending all of them skidding back. Steven turned to face Velda's pokemons.

"I don't know what Tate and Liza said to all of you, but I can guarantee that they didn't mean any harm. They are gym leaders, and I am the future Champion of Hoenn. It is our job to defend Hoenn and its citizens. You will not be attacked unless you or your trainer did anything to jeopardise the peace and safety of Hoenn, which I think is unlikely given what I heard about your trainer from my friends. So stand down, unless you wish to endanger your lives and your trainer's own by going up against **me**."

Velda's pokemon seemed to consider his words as they stared back at him warily. The espeon established a telepathic link with Steven this time, conveying its thoughts.

 _'Only if you can promise that none of the psychics here, including the humans over there, will probe into my Mistress's mind with their psychic powers. She has been hurt enough. We will stand down if you can give us that promise,_ **_future Champion_**.' The espeon said the last two words with a sneer.

Steven's expression didn't change as he raised his right hand and swore. "I, Steven Stone, give you my word that no psychics here, including human psychics, will probe into your trainer's mind without her explicit permission. Of course, this is on the condition that she did not do any unlawful things that warranted a mind probe." He glanced at Tate and Liza who were behind him and gestured for them to recall their pokemons. Steven lowered his right hand and crossed his arms once more. "Is that satisfactory?"

 _'It is. I hope you uphold your promise. My Mistress is still physically and mentally weak from what she experienced at Lilycove, but was unwilling to rest as the images from the battles keep reappearing in her head whenever her mind wanders off in boredom. That was the reason why she challenged the gym despite her condition. We wanted her to sleep, but she is unable, and unwilling to sleep for fear of nightmares. We only put her into an improper deep sleep because we wanted her to rest properly and because she has knowledge of secrets that is vital to Hoenn's survival in the confines of her mind. It was the only way we could think of to protect her secrets while indulging her need for a battle. Please don't release any form of invasive psychic powers around her. Please don't worsen her condition even more than it already is. Please.'_

Steven grimaced. He had heard and known of Velda. Wallace had told him the full story when he went on a solo mission to retrieve the orbs and hid them in another safe place that even he don't know about. He knew of Velda's contribution in bringing down the main force of Team Magma and Team Aqua. He knew a little of what she experienced at Lilycove due to his friendship with Vance, her brother. Velda is another victim of the attack.

Hoenn had failed her. Hoenn had failed the people who were at Lilycove when the invasion happened. Something like that should never have happened.

"We will take note of it. I know what your trainer did for Hoenn, her brother is a good friend of mine. I gave him his metagross when it was still a beldum, you might have seen it before. We will make sure that no form of psychic energy that are invasive in nature will be released around your trainer. We have a duty to protect Hoenn as well. Please trust us." Steven said this part out loud for Tate and Liza to hear, who had reigned in their psychic powers in response.

 _'I am willing to trust those who Mistress and Vance trust. Please remember your promise. I will wake my Mistress up now.'_

* * *

"Ugh... what happened?"

I glanced around my surroundings. I am no longer at the entrance of Mossdeep gym. In fact, I was somehow transported into a challenger's box which had somehow managed to accomodate every single member of my team. I was sitting down on the floor and leaning on Flamel's side, who was using his body for me to lean on. Kel was lying down by my side as well while Fuzzy was using his body as some sort of pillow so I could rest my head comfortably. Was I somehow asleep this entire time?

 _'Mistress. We have won the gym battle for you as we promised.'_

"What?"

I slowly stood up and took a good look around at my surroundings. I was no doubt in a room meant for a battle with gym leaders. The entire arena was wrecked. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Snap and Dolly lying on the floor unconscious. It was only when I saw them still breathing and alive did I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly dug through my backpack and fed them a revive each. Dolly have to ingest the revive by pressing it against her own shadow, she is unable to open the zip on her mouth. Doing so will kill her.

Snap and Dolly quickly regained consciousness as they stood up, battered but looking happy that I am awake. I hugged the both of them and pulled away shortly after and looked at Snap sternly. I recognised those craters.

"You used Draco Meteor without my permission, didn't you?"

Snap looked sheepish as he turned his head slightly away from me, not daring to look at me in the eyes. I rubbed the temple of my head with my knuckle. Just what happened? I will deal with Snap later. Did they really just won a gym battle without me?

"It was a splendid battle. You have trained your pokemons well."

A large skarmory slowly flew up to the front of the challenger box and _Steven Stone_ smiled down at me.

"Steven Stone?"

"In the flesh. I was watching the entire battle from the spectator's stand. I never thought that an advanced trainer can take on Tate's and Liza's pokemons without commanding them. They only used two pokemons on the advanced level. Another two of them are on the lower end of the Elite level and two of them were from their main team, even if they weren't their strongest members. Your team defeated all of them and only your banette and flygon were knocked out of battle."

I gaped and turned to my pokemon in shock. They did what?!

 _'Your body was too weak to command us in battle, Mistress. It's not like you will listen to our words and go back to rest. Your mental defenses were too weak for you to be here, your secrets could possibly been found out if any of the numerous psychics here probed into your mind, accidentally or not. Putting you to sleep was the best way.'_

 _'Please don't do something like this without my permission again, Rena.'_

 _'Understood. For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Mistress.'_

 _'You are all forgiven, I expect you to tell me everything that has gone on while I was asleep later.'_

Cutting off the telepathic link with Rena, I turned my attention back to Steven. Tate and Liza had made their way beside him from where they were on the opposite end of the arena and stood beside Steven. Tate had a small smile on his face while Liza was smiling as brightly as the sun.

"Hi Velda! I'm Liza! And this is-"

"-Tate. That was a-"

"-wonderful battle! We should do it again-"

"-sometime in the future."

I blinked. Wow. Are their minds really linked to each other?

Liza took out the Mind Badge and a TM and passed it over to me which I accepted. I obviously had won the gym challenge somehow without me knowing about it. Liza and I were about the same height and she held both my hands and started to chatter on without a care in the world.

"That was absolutely amazing! It's hard trying to find a skilled trainer around our age, you know? Your banette and flygon managed to take down Sunny and Moony too! Granted it was a rookie mistake on Sunny's part to try and engage your flygon up close, but still! It was amazing! How did you managed to train your pokemons to this level? And so quickly too! You have been a trainer for only slightly more than a year, right? You are already skilled enough to be an Elite trainer! Tate and I were special as we were given permission by the league to be trainers at seven years old but that's partly because we were born with psychic powers. Oh, by the way, you do not need to worry about us accidentally releasing our psychic powers. We have complete control over it and we made sure to keep it in. Your espeon had warned us about it. But still! You have to come back some other time! I want a rematch! I don't care what Tate thinks about this! I want a rematch! I want a rematch! With my main team this time! Don't care about Tate, he is a sour grape so ignore him." Liza ignored a "HEY!" from Tate and she continued to chatter on. "Make sure you come back to challenge our gym after your first Ever Grande Conference, ok? I will be prepared for you this time. I didn't know that your banette is so troublesome to deal with. It was the reason why Moony and Sunny were unable to release their full powers! With only a single Taunt too! Argh! It was so frustrating! I want a rematch just thinking about it!" Liza released me from her grip as she gripped the sides of her head with both her hands while facing the sky. "That Taunt was so frustrating! We cannot even use most of our combos because of it! Who even uses Taunt nowadays! Not even Spenser the old goat uses it!"

Steven looked very amused while Tate looked suitably embarrassed at Liza's outburst as he facepalmed and looked away. Steven calmed down the agitated Liza by placing a hand on her shoulder. "That's why you should be prepared for all kinds of situations, Liza. Sunny and Moony are way stronger than any of Velda's pokemons, I have no doubt about that. But Velda have trained her banette on how to prevent their opponents from unleashing their full power, it is something you can learn from her. Both you and Tate are very strong for your age. I'm sure the both of you will grow to be even more powerful when you are adults. What you need now is just more experience. These things take time. Don't fret too much about it."

"But Steeeveeeeen-" Liza clung on to his arm and swung it around side to side in a childish manner.

"Enough, Liza." Tate grabbed Liza and pulled her away from Steven. Steven looked as if he was trying very hard not to laugh at Liza's childish behaviour. "Don't misbehave, we have an image to uphold as gym leaders. What will members of the public say if they saw you acting like this?"

Liza pouted and sat in mock anger on the floor. "I'm still a kid, and I'm also a gym leader no matter what they say. If they have anything to say to me, they can say it to my face or just suck it up."

Tate just ignored his twin as he walked up to shake my hand. "Congrats for winning the battle. Just ignore Liza's childish behaviour. She's just a little upset that we lost, especially when we used Sunny and Moony in battle."

"I am _not_ upset-"

"Yes, you are. We can read each other's mind, remember?"

My eyes widened slightly. "Really? You guys can do that?"

"Yes, we can. That's how-"

"-we are able to do this! To be able-"

"-to complete the sentences-"

"-our other twin is trying to say!"

Steven laughed out loud this time at seeing my awe-struck expression. "It takes a while to get used to how they speak. They can speak normally as individuals, but sometimes they do that without even realising it. I speak from personal experience." He gave a single clap of his hands to catch our attention. "It's almost past lunch time now, how about we go and grab a bite first? Your pokemons need to heal at the pokemon center too."

"Ok! I will go with Vel here! You guys catch up later!" Liza grabbed onto my left arm and swiftly dragged me with her out of the room as I barely managed to recall the bigger members of my team. Kel, Rena, and Fuzzy caught up and walked next to me. Rena gave a slap on Liza's legs with her tail.

"Oops. Sorry, I forgot your trainer is feeling a little unwell." Liza spoke to Rena as she rubbed the back of her head apologetically with her other hand. She turned around to face me and began to check all over me. "You aren't injured, are you? Are you fine? What are you sick with anyway? Do you-"

"I'm fine, Liza." I said as I reassured the energetic girl. It's nice to converse someone close to my physical age who is a little more mature than our peers. Liza may act childishly, but the fact that she became a gym leader together with her twin spoke volumes about their maturity. I glanced backwards. "Are you sure it's ok to leave them behind like that?"

"Oh, it's fine. They will teleport to our location in three, two-"

"One."

Tate and Steven appeared in a teleport beside us.

"You guys can teleport with your own power?"

"Only to places and people we are familiar with. It takes a lot of time to master such usages of psychic power. Teleporting to unknown or unfamiliar places takes up a lot of our energy." Tate informed me with a shrug.

"Alright, kids." Tate and Liza cried out in indignation at Steven's words, which he ignored. He pushed us from behind gently with his arms. "Let's just go and grab a bite. I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

* * *

Tate had never seen anyone like Velda Vera.

Tate and Liza had been special ever since their births. They both knew they were not normal. Kids their age will avoid them like the plague due to their psychic powers and they were unnerved at how they could read each other's thoughts. They were afraid of them. It was because of this that they both only had each other as their childhood companions and was why they were so close, even for twins. Their parents tried to give them a normal childhood, but the manifestation of their psychic powers prevented that from ever happening.

They were both six when they found Sunny and Moony, or to be more accurate, Sunny and Moony found Tate and Liza. Liza had given the name Moony to lunatone, so Tate had to go with naming solrock "Sunny" so that "they can be a matching pair", according to Liza. Moony and Sunny were attached to a small piece of meteorite that had fallen from space and landed in the ocean waters near Mossdeep, their hometown. The two pokemons found them as they were attracted to the psychic powers Tate and Liza were emitting due to the lack of control over their psychic powers when they were younger.

Sunny and Moony were of great help in assisting Tate and Liza in controlling their untamed powers. They do not possess the ability to Teleport, but they know the theory behind it and taught it to Tate and Liza. It caused endless frustration for their parents when Tate and Liza learned how to Teleport and began to teleport all around Mossdeep to play hide and seek, but they didn't scold them, merely fussed over them. They knew Tate and Liza were bored due to how mature they were for their age and that no kids in Mossdeep will play with them.

They were lonely.

Tate and Liza soon found a love for pokemons and pokemon battles. They are prodigies when it comes to pokemon battles. They are decent enough in single battles, but they are a formidable duo in double battles. Their psychic powers can synchronise very well with their psychic pokemons and they can all talk to each other telepathically. Tate and Liza are twins, they work well together naturally. It is a lot easier to command Sunny and Moony with telepathy rather than verbally, which gives them a huge advantage against the opponents they faced. Tate and Liza would often go out to challenge any trainers they find to pass the time. Despite having Sunny and Moony by their side for only a year, the twins had defeated most of the advanced trainers who came to Mossdeep for their gym challenge in their double battles. No one took them seriously at first, but they soon created a news sensation all across Mossdeep when they defeated almost every trainer that came to Mossdeep with their impeccable teamwork.

Their exploits caught the attention of the previous gym leader of Mossdeep, Spenser, a bald old man with a long white beard that reached his hips and tribal tattoos inked across his body. He tend to wear tribal clothings and have a blue wooden staff that he used to assist him in moving around. He approached Tate and Liza, and asked them if they were interested to be pokemon trainers. He will personally send in their application to the Hoenn League and register them as a duo. They agreed as they were bored out of their minds in Mossdeep. None of the trainers they faced can give them a good battle.

The Hoenn League gave the twins special treatment as they approved of the twins to be trainers despite their young age. The manifestation of their psychic powers was the main reason why they were allowed to go on a journey. Full control of latent psychic powers in humans is easier to achieve through battle experience, experience which Mossdeep cannot fully provide. The twins need to go out and see the world. Tate and Liza started out on their journey together even before they reached eight years of age and proceeded to complete the gym circuit within two years.

They both competed in the 523rd Ever Grande Conference and reached the finals. Their final opponent was Steven Stone, who crushed them effortlessly in battle.

Tate and Liza were a little grumpy about their loss, but they got over it quickly when they found a good friend in Steven Stone.

Not long after their participation in Ever Grande Conference, Spenser approached them once again to inquire them on whether they are interested to be the next gym leaders of Mossdeep. Tate and Liza were interested, to be gym leaders means that they can fight strong opponents, especially when the Mossdeep gym is the seventh gym in the gym circuit. There are many responsibilities that a gym leader has to carry but they are sure that they can handle it.

Nobody believed that the twins are suited to be gym leaders other than their parents. They are too young. To prove themselves to the world, Tate and Liza openly declared a challenge to Spenser to fight him at his full power and their battle was broadcast to the whole of Hoenn live on TV. Spenser is a generalist, and it was hard to prepare themselves against him since Tate and Liza are Psychic Specialists. They didn't have many options. However, the battle they had was a double battle.

Double battles are their specialty.

After a long and hard battle, the twins defeated Spenser much to the disbelief of most people in Hoenn. Many of them knew of Spenser and his strength, and two kids, only slightly over a decade old, had defeated him in a trainer battle to prove themselves worthy of being gym leaders.

Tate and Liza became gym leaders at 11 years old. Steven, who had became their good friend, often come over to Mossdeep to help them out in their gym leader duties. He had also recently defeated Wallace and decided to stay at Mossdeep permanently so that it was easier for him to perform his duties as a future Champion.

None of the trainers the twins faced could give them a battle as exciting as what they experienced from Steven and Spenser. Most of them weren't near their age as well. Trainers who were near their age were often sponsored trainers, but they are usually more interested in going to Sootopolis straight away to complete their gym circuit than to stay and make idle talk with them. None of them gave them an exciting battle despite having the strength to earn their recognition and their Mind Badge.

Until Velda came along.

Liza was especially excited and could not stop bouncing up and down whenever videos of Velda's battles was sent into the gym leader's chat group. She was excited to meet Velda and face her in battle. She was excited that there was finally somebody near their age who displayed the same potential as them. She was excited to finally find someone who could potentially be one of her very few friends.

Tate was excited as well, but not as much as Liza. He is the pessimist out of the two of them. Velda would probably go off straight away to the Sootopolis gym after their battle anyway. Hardly anyone would be their friend. They were freaks. That's what children their age called them.

There were several unforeseen circumstances along the way in their wait for Velda's challenge, but she still made it here. The only thing they didn't expect was for her to be challenging their gym challenge in her sleep.

Velda's pretty face and beautiful, long, blond hair immediately caught Tate's attention, even when she's asleep. _She's pretty_ , he realised. He immediately threw that thought at the back of his mind when he realised the thoughts he had about her. He will be engaging her in a gym battle soon, it would not do any good for him to be distracted by these thoughts. He will not underestimate anyone in battle, even when they are asleep.

He just hoped that Liza did not just read his thoughts about Velda, she would tease him mercilessly about it for days if she did.

He also didn't expect for Liza and him to lose to Velda in an official gym battle. He didn't expect her to win while she's asleep. He didn't expect her to win at all when he and Liza sent out Sunny and Moony for battle, even if they aren't the strongest pokemons they have when it comes to power. They lost in a double battle.

He got a little grumpy about their loss and it was probably the reason why he reacted that way to Velda's espeon when it reminded him of their loss. Things would have gone sour until Steven stepped in and saved them all from a needless battle.

Tate was surprised that Velda wasn't freaked out by their psychic powers, but looked at them in amazement instead.

No kids their age had such a reaction to them before.

Their lunch together was pleasant. Liza was doing most of the talking among the four of them during their lunch. Tate knows that she is excited to finally meet Velda in person and that's why she would not stop talking. Velda warmed up to them after a while and started to talk more, but she was obviously still tired from whatever sickness she was experiencing. Tate tried not to look at Velda too much during their lunch, but he could not resist stealing a glance or two every now and then. Velda is just too beautiful and he was afraid to look at her in the eyes. He would probably get lost in those beautiful emerald eyes of hers.

Tate watched as Velda left their group temporarily when the nurse at the pokemon center called for her to collect her pokemon. She was the last out of the group to collect her pokemon and they will be going back to the gym later straight away after this. Liza had invited Velda to the gym to continue their conversation from where they had left off.

"You have been looking at Velda a little too much, Tate."

Tate quickly put his usual poker face back on and tried to look away from Velda as discreetly as possible. "Your eyesight is getting worse, Steven. Maybe it's time to get yourself a pair of glasses."

Steven gave an all-knowing smirk. "Oh really?"

"He _liiikkeeeeesss_ her." Liza said in a singsong voice while bouncing up and down on her feet.

"No. I do _not_." Tate bit out harshly in a whisper.

"We can read each other's thoughts, remember?" Liza chirped back happily, throwing Tate's favourite phrase back at him. She walked up to her twin while giving him a pat on the back in what was supposed to be a comforting manner. "I really like Vel, I approve of her to be my future sister-in-law. She's pretty, she's fun, and she's good at battles." She then struck a 'gambatte' pose at Tate. "Go Tate! Win over the heart of the fair maiden! Bring me back a sister-in-law!"

"I can be your best man, if you ever need one." Steven added helpfully.

"I'm only _thirteen_!"

* * *

 **AN: This is the longest chapter ever written to date, the word count nearly hit 16,000 when I'm finally done with it.**

 **I tried to make Tate's and Liza's age younger, but anything younger than the age specified here does not seem possible given how young they were when they became gym leaders. There has to be a limit to how young someone can be approved to be a trainer. So I settled for making them a year older than Velda.**

 **I hoped that the battle with Sunny and Moony wasn't too disappointing, especially when I said that these two were members of their main team. Solrock and Lunatone aren't very outstanding pokemons in battle even when they work well together. There are many psychic pokemons out there that outstrip them by far when it comes to pokemon battles. Being Tate's and Liza's starter doesn't guarantee that they will be the strongest. Flamel is Velda's starter but he is definitely not the strongest on the team. In this battle, Dolly countered them hard, and had prevented any form of power ups with Taunt while Sunny and Moony were inflicted with Toxic. I remembered that Tate and Liza were monsters with Calm Mind, or any other stat raising moves back when I played pokemon emerald, and I kept praying for them to use those moves as little as possible when I fought against them. In the end, my brother suggested the bright idea of catching two sharpedos with Super Rod and spam Crunch and Surf to win, which actually worked.**

 **The Sootopolis gym battle will come up soon, and I should probably be able to finish it before my school term starts. I just hope that it won't be as long as this chapter. Gym battle chapters always turn out to be a long chapter when I write it even when I didn't want it to be so.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar (Kratos), male**

 **Tate and Liza, Age: 13, Male and Female respectively, Mossdeep City Gym Leaders**

 **1) Solrock (Sunny)**

 **2) Lunatone (Moony)**

 **3) Reuniclus**

 **4) Bronzong**

 **5) Xatu**

 **6) Claydol**


	19. Chapter 19- The Last Hurdle

"-da! Velda! Wake up!"

I woke up in cold sweat as I tried to catch my breath. I sat up trying to clear my fogged mind and felt a hand trying to rub soothing circles on my back as I tried to get my mind back in working order.

"Are you ok? You were screaming and just wouldn't wake up! Your pachirisu had to give you a small shock to break you out of your nightmare! What happened?!"

I tried to muster a small smile to reassure Liza that everything was alright. Rena and Kel were already beside me, looking at me in concern.

"It's fine, Liz. Just some images that I saw when I was in Lilycove. It will disappear given time. Sorry if I woke you up."

Liza's eyes widened momentarily and I guessed that she managed to fill in the blanks which I purposely left out in my sentences. She gave me a tight hug, which I returned.

"What happened?! Is everything alright?"

Liza and I turned towards the door of our room where we were sleeping for the night. Steven and Tate were there with several of their pokemons and looking very worried. I gave a small shake of my head as I wiped off the sweat that has collected on my forehead. Liza caught on that I do not wish to speak any further on this issue and spoke on my behalf.

"It's just a nightmare that Vel had. Don't worry about it. I'm here with her, remember?"

I caught Tate's surprised expression that was only visible on his face for about a second before it went back to normal. Liza must have told him what happened through telepathy. Steven don't look convinced, but he didn't press any further.

"Alright, but if you guys need anything, we are just next door."

With that, Steven closed the door of our room as he went back to sleep with Tate. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in.

"If you want, I can ask one of my pokemons to use a Hypnosis on you, Vel. It can put you in a deep sleep without dreams, including nightmares."

Liza's offer was a tempting one, but I don't want any foreign psychics to go probing into my mind no matter how low the chance is. Hypnosis does not probe into the mind of its targets but accidents do happen.

"It's ok, Liz. It's not the first time this has happened. I'm really sorry I woke everyone up."

"It's fine. But Vel, this isn't healthy. You need-"

"I'm fine, Liz, I really am. I just need time to recover."

Liza didn't say anything else as we both laid back down onto the large bed that we shared in the room. Liza fell asleep moments later while I remained awake. Kel lay down on the floor beside the bed as she curled up to get back to sleep. Rena and Fuzzy snuggled up next to me on my other side as I absentmindedly stroked them.

Liza and Tate had invited me back to the gym after our lunch to continue our chit-chat session. Steven had excused himself to fulfill other duties he had as a future Champion but had offered to let me stay in his house for as long as I need during my time at Mossdeep. The reason he gave for the offer was because he was good friends with my brother, much to my surprise, and he was the one who actually gave my brother his metagross when it was only a beldum. They had met when Vance was in Rustboro, Steven's hometown, when Vance was competing in the Rustboro gym challenge.

I spent the rest of the day after my gym battle chatting with Tate and Liza while they waited for any other challengers to turn up at their gym. We also re-watched the video of my gym battle since I had no idea what went on and the three of us throw in our opinions of the battle. No other challengers turned up that day. Liza had told me that there were fewer challengers attempting gym challenges throughout the entire region ever since the attack on Lilycove. People were still wary of travelling for fear of such things happening again even if most of Team Aqua and Team Magma were put down. The Hoenn League is doing all they can to encourage people to continue on with their lives as if the attack on Lilycove did not happen, but the people of Hoenn viewed such actions as sweeping the entire incident under the rug, which infuriated them. After the news of Team Aqua's and Team Magma's downfall had started to settle in, there were many people who were angry with the Hoenn League for not putting the two terrorist groups down sooner when they were obviously capable in doing so, as evident when those two groups were crushed a mere ten days after the attack on Lilycove. They felt that the attack on Lilycove could have been prevented if the Hoenn League had took on a more proactive approach when dealing with them. There were some who were more sympathetic towards the Hoenn League and congratulated them on a job well done for taking out both Team Aqua and Team Magma at the same time. Still, the damage has been done, and it doesn't change the fact that the majority of the people of Hoenn are starting to doubt the leadership of the current officials that make up the Hoenn League. Wallace may be the Champion, but he does not have a say in everything. He is more of a figurehead and the general of the entire military force of Hoenn, which is the extent of his influence. The people's negative sentiments were not aimed at Wallace or any of the other thirteen pillars, but were directed to the rest of the officials that made up the Hoenn League since they were the ones who led Hoenn. Tate had told me that these officials are trying very hard to keep their positions in the Hoenn League by trying to appease members of the public. I have a feeling that the twins don't have a very good opinion of the league for whatever reasons, but I don't want to pry.

When Tate and Liza eventually closed the gym for the day, Liza had dragged Tate along with her in bringing me to Steven's house where he was waiting for us. Liza had proclaimed that they will be joining me in spending the night at Steven's house together for a sleepover, something which she rarely had a chance to do. Liza and I slept in the guest room with a large king size bed while Tate and Steven shared a bed in Steven's own room.

And thus bringing me to my current situation.

I closed my eyes as I tried to let sleep washed over me once more. I shouldn't have anymore nightmares after the previous one I just had, at least for tonight. I need to rest so that I can fully recover from my fever and continue on my journey. Liza had promised to bring me to Mossdeep Space Center tomorrow during her lunch break.

 _'Rena, can you help me to fall asleep?'_

 _'Every repeated use will diminish its effect, Mistress. It's not a true Hypnosis.'_

 _'I know. But just for tonight.'_

 _'Understood. Sleep well, Mistress.'_

* * *

The next one week was mostly spent exploring Mossdeep with Tate and Liza as my guides or to train with them as they waited for challengers to appear at the gym.

Mossdeep is a small island, and sadly, the only place of interest that grabbed my attention is the Mossdeep Space Center. Even then, we were only allowed to explore the first and second floor of the center that was opened to the public. Anywhere else is out of bounds. It still was an eye-opener. I'm not sure if I have ever visited a space exhibit or sorts back in my previous world. If I did, I certainly didn't remember what it looked like. The one I visited in Mossdeep was a lot different due to the fact that the main aim of space exploration done by Mossdeep Space Center was to find new and unknown pokemons in space, or to find out more about existing pokemons that we knew that came from space, like solrock and lunatone, for example. I don't see any news about the discovery of a new planet, so either these are things that the pokemon world doesn't care about, or there is a lack of other planets in this world.

The other place of interest that briefly caught my attention was the marketplace. It's a lot like the one in Slateport, just a lot smaller in scale. There were a few rare items up for sale and some of them were sold at a good price. I bought some of them to send them to Vance later since he might need it for his ACE missions. Steven admitted that he is in ACE as well and reassured me that Vance is well and alive, just buried neck-deep with all the missions he had been assigned to.

Liza had convinced me to stay for a week at Mossdeep on my second day there, saying that she doesn't want to let me go after she finally found someone that can be her friend. It was then I realised that both Tate and her could have been lonely due to how abnormal they are for their age, not like I have any right to say that. I am the epitome of abnormal. On average, there were only one or two challengers that challenged the gym everyday and that leaves a very bored Tate and Liza. Tate is doing well in staving off the boredom but the same cannot be said for the energetic Liza. Liza will just drag me along for pokemon battles and training whenever she's free and I quickly learnt to not be deceived by her bubbly exterior. She is a monster when it comes to training. She also challenged me to a battle a few times without Tate's help, which I accepted, and I got soundly beaten every single time. The twins were right, their solrock and lunatone weren't the strongest pokemons on her team. They were far from it. My pokemons enjoyed the battles with Liza even if they got beaten black and blue every single time. Tate also battled me a few times, but he looked uneasy about it for reasons unknown. Tate and Liza were also of great help in helping me to train Rena on how to further hone her psychic powers. The TM they gave me was Calm Mind, and the twins also helped me in aiding members of my team that were capable of learning it to master that move.

Steven popped by a few times whenever he was free and he would share stories of his travels as well. He has a deep fascination with various stones and rocks, which can be seen from the entire collection of these he displayed in his display cabinet back at his house. He tried to get me to share the same appreciation but it didn't work out, much to his disappointment. Steven also showed me his cradily and Lily was overjoyed to finally see another member of her kind as they both swayed in the sun together. They make quite a funny sight when they do so. Steven had also trained his cradily to be a defensive battler although his cradily is a lot more aggressive in battle and thus more prone to initiate attacks of his own. Steven had theorised that it is probably due to the fact that his cradily is a male, which may explain his aggression shown in its battle, but nobody knows for sure due to the limited amount of information humans have on their species.

When the day finally came when I have to leave Mossdeep for Sootopolis, Liza threw a tantrum as she held onto my leg and just would not let me go. It was only after a lot coaxing, talking, and promises of many future visits that she reluctantly let go of her grip on my leg and waved me goodbye. Tate, being a man of few words as usual, just said his farewells with a small smile, which earned him a jab from Liza's elbows to his ribs. Tate had been a little skittish around me throughout my stay in Mossdeep, much to my bafflement, and it made me wonder if I had done anything to upset him. Steven just said that I am welcomed to visit anytime and handed me a spare key to his house. I wanted to return it to him, but he just pushed the key back into my hand and said that Vance had one as well so that he can come and crash with him when he's off duty but had too little time to return home. He wanted to extend the same treatment to me. Like Wallace, he tried to find out if I would be interested in joining any of the Hoenn League's forces and was a little downtrodden when I said that it would unlikely be the case. His mood lifted immediately when I said I would keep an eye out for any rare rocks and steel type pokemon on my journey. The short time that I had spent with Steven made me realise that he has a tendency to hoard things he liked and keep a large collection of them much like a dragon, and he guards them zealously even if he didn't need most of the items in his collection. I nearly laughed out loud when I had the realisation since I didn't expect such behaviour from the future Champion of Hoenn.

After bidding my farewells to the three new friends I made at Mossdeep, I rode on Toothless's back to fly to Sootopolis with Snap soaring beside us. Toothless had been eager to ferry me on his back ever since he evolved and the flight from Lilycove to Mossdeep proved that he is capable of long distance flight, so I indulged him. I had fully recovered from my fever by now and the nightmares are getting less frequent. I still had them, but they don't leave me a screaming mess when I woke up so I counted that as an improvement. I spent the time flying on Toothless's back trying to take in the breathtaking sights below us. The view was very different from what I saw from Snap's back when I flew back to Petalburg from Lavaridge where I could see the grassy plains, lush forests, or tall rocky mountains. Looking at the sea from the sky made me truly realised just how vast the ocean is, and how small we are when compared to it. For that one short moment, I can appreciate a little on why Archie was so adamant on expanding the sea. It can be very beautiful. I didn't have the mood to appreciate the scenery when I was flying to Mossdeep so I didn't remember much of it, but I certainly would not tire of seeing such beautiful sights every single day. It's possible for me to do so since I have Snap and Toothless, they would be elated to fly me around everyday to take in these sights. I took a few pictures during our flight to add to my photo collection. I had built up a collection of pictures that I took while I was on my travels to the various places that we had been to and I am intending to keep it up. These thoughts also reminded me that I would need to take a group picture with my entire team since I haven't done so, much to my surprise.

That would be the first thing I do when we touched down at Sootopolis.

* * *

Sootopolis is by far the most beautiful city that I had ever laid my eyes on.

It's not like the other cities aren't beautiful, they all are in their own way. Rustboro had ancient architectures that whispered about its history, Dewford has that lazy, vacation feel to it. Slateport and Mauville were always buzzing with activities while Verdanturf is just the quiet peaceful town that hardly anyone knew about. Lavaridge and Fallarbor gave a warm feeling, but Lavaridge had a more touristy feel to it due to its popularity with travellers. Fallarbor feels like a place that you would choose for a quiet retirement, but not so quiet as if it felt like you were cut off from the rest of the world. Petalburg feels like home to me. Fortree city is a place where you can meld with nature; even the houses were built within the huge trees that grow there. Concrete were rarely used to built anything at Fortree, the locals had chose to work with nature to coexist together. Lilycove is a place where the stars shine brightly at night and attracted tourists from all around the world to admire the alluring performances performed by Hoenn's coordinators. Mossdeep is much like Dewford but it does not have the lazy feel. I haven't visited Oldale Town and Littleroot Town, but they are only a short distance away from Petalburg so I can visit them anytime I want.

Sootopolis is just way different from any other places that I had seen.

Everything is just stunningly beautiful, there are no other words to describe it. From the buildings, to the pavements, even the street lamps. Everything is built, positioned, and carved down to the finest detail. There was obviously a lot of thought put in when Sootopolis's founders first designed this city. There is already a mysterious allure to the place due to the fact that it was built within a extinct underwater volcano that somehow found its way to the surface. The architecture in Sootopolis added to the beauty. The combination of nature and civilisation did not look out of place, but rather, they complement each other well. Sootopolis is a place where the rich gather. Rich ladies will often have their afternoon tea in the numerous cafes found on the rock ledges on the interior of the volcano. Wealthy gentlemen will often choose to settle down and built their homes here due to how beautiful and isolated Sootopolis is from the unforgiving corporate world. It's not hard to see why after spending my first hour in Sootopolis exploring the city. Sootopolis is truly a paradise.

I also had a passerby helped us to take a group picture with me and my team. I chose the huge lake in the center of the city as the background. This is our final stop for our gym circuit and I wanted our time here to be a memorable one. The gobsmacked expression of the passerby was priceless when I released my entire team out for the picture. All of my pokemon were either uncommon or rare in the Hoenn region. Bigblue and Toothless were regional starters, Lily's species was supposed to be extinct, Kel's species was not favoured by humans due to their outdated superstition, Dolly is a ghost, Snap's species is hard to encounter unless you went into the harsh deserts of Route 111, Rena's species are almost as rare as regional starters, Kratos is a pseudo-legendary, and Flamel and Fuzzy are foreign species to Hoenn.

Our team drew stares from members of the public as we took our pictures with the passerby's help. The locals here are probably no strangers to fully evolved and powerful pokemons as their city houses the last gym in the Hoenn's gym circuit, but not many of the trainers that passed by here possess so many rare and uncommon pokemon.

I spent the rest of my first day in Sootopolis exploring with my pokemon. I had to recall some of the bigger ones when they couldn't fit into certain places but that didn't stop us from having our fun. I spent the night after dinner to lie down on a clean grassy patch at the bank of the lake to watch the stars twinkle in the night sky through the large hole above. There is an indescribable beauty to see the night sky through the mouth of a volcano. Toothless and Snap had took to flying in the night sky which attracted some stares from the local populace. Toothless was especially obvious due to the light from his tail-flame that shone brightly in the night.

I felt especially touristy at that moment and took many pictures of my pokemons in their "natural habitat", from how Kel and Rena lazed around to how Bigblue enjoyed swimming in the cold waters of the lake. I also took pictures of Snap and Toothless flying in the dark of the night and how the usually aggressive Kratos snored peacefully beside me on the soft grass.

"These are very elegant pokemons you have there, milady."

I turned my head slightly to the direction of the baritone voice from where I was lying down. I was too comfortable to get up from my spot. The voice that spoke to me was soft, but loud enough to be heard clearly from where I was. From her sleeping position on the ground, Rena merely cracked open an eye towards the black silhouette where the voice originated from and closed it a few seconds later. If Rena doesn't deem this guy to be a threat, then he most probably isn't.

"Thank you, but may I know who you are?"

"Ah, where are my manners?" The figure walked up to my location as I squinted my eyes to get a look at the figure which was unmistakably male. He looked vaguely familiar.

The figure got close enough that I finally recognised him under the moonlight. He put a hand to his chest and gave a short, courteous bow. "My name is Juan, the gym leader of Sootopolis gym. I have been awaiting your challenge, Ms Vera. My fellow colleagues had the highest of praises for you, as do Wallace. I am eager to dance with you in a battle of both strength and beauty."

I quickly stood up and cheekily performed a curtsy in response to his bow. "It's nice to meet you, Juan. Please call me Velda. I have been waiting for a long time to have my dance with you as well." It was not a lie. I am eager to battle Juan, who was said to be the strongest among the gym leaders before the major change in their ranks. He is also Wallace's mentor who introduced him to both pokemon battles and contests, a fact well-known to the rest of the world.

Juan laughed good-naturedly as his luvdisc floated to his side from where it was hidden behind the tree. Toothless and Snap had flown down to land by my side after spotting a stranger near me. My ever loyal Flamel had trotted up to stand by my side the moment I stood up to greet Juan. I could feel my shadows shifting slightly as I felt Dolly's presence in it. The rest of my team remained where they were, lying comfortably on the ground but I knew that they were keeping a wary eye on Juan despite their relaxed posture. I subtly gestured for them to stand down. Juan had greeted me politely and it is only right for me to respond in kind.

Juan gave an appraising look at my team while stroking his carefully trimmed right mustache with his right thumb and index finger. "I was initially curious as to who owns that magnificent charizard and flygon that were flying in our sparkling night sky. I see now that they belongs to you. Your pokemon radiates glitz and glamour, Velda, more than what I initially expected. Splendid!" He snapped his fingers once in excitement before declaring dramatically. "I have decided! I will be using him when you finally face me in an artistic battle!" He put his fingers into his mouth and blew out a loud whistle and raised his other hand towards the lake to strike a pose.

The waters in the lake swirled visibly as a whirlpool formed. A humongous kingdra emerged from the waters as its scales glittered under the pale moonlight. I haven't seen a pokemon shining with both beauty and power ever since I faced Wallace's milotic.

The kingdra floated next to Juan as Juan petted it with a single hand on its side. "This is Theo, my starter. You will need to thoroughly prepare yourself to face him in battle. Seeing that you will be facing Theo, he will be the only pokemon of the Elite level that you will face, that I promise you. Our battle will be a 6 vs 6 battle."

Juan's kingdra greeted me with a trill as I nodded back politely in acknowledgement. What's with gym leaders trying to test me with members of their main team?

"I'm afraid I have to end our conversation here, Velda. My wife is waiting for me to get back home. Theo and I will await eagerly for your challenge."

"My team and I won't disappoint."

Juan gave a suave smile at me as he turned around and walked back to where he came from with his kingdra and luvdisc following him and they disappeared into the night moments later. I turned to the rest of my team, who were now very awake and had stood up in response when Juan's kingdra first emerged from the lake.

"You guys saw how powerful that kingdra is. We will need to train like crazy to even think of fighting it on even ground." Toothless roared as he got fired up from thinking of facing such a strong opponent. He's eager to start training straight away. I smiled as I plopped down back onto the grass patch which I was lying on earlier. "The training can come later. Let's just enjoy the night and relax for now."

I watched in hidden delight as my words threw Toothless off guard as he looked at me in a _'Are you kidding me?_ ' expression. Toothless's lust for battle had grown ever since he reached his final evolution although he kept it well under control. Any thoughts of facing a strong opponent will still get him riled up although he understands that he cannot fight them all. He have to leave some for the rest of the team.

"I'm serious, Toothless. Look how beautiful Sootopolis is." I gestured to our surroundings with one of my hands while the other is supporting the back of my head as I laid on the ground. "The Ever Grande Conference won't start in many months anyway. We have a lot of time to prepare for the Sootopolis gym challenge and the conference. Just relax and enjoy the view for now, ok?"

Toothless grunted a reply as he took to the skies once more with Snap. The rest of my team resumed what they were doing before Juan appeared and we relaxed in peace once more. Juan will be a tough nut to crack, especially with his kingdra, and I've never felt so unsure in a gym challenge other than when I first faced Winona's altaria and dragonite. There's no point in training just to beat his kingdra, I have to set my goals higher than that. Kingdras won't be the only species of pokemon I will face when I finally do take part in the Ever Grande Conference. Juan probably wanted me to lose the gym battle I have against him seeing that Winona was the only one who defeated me in an official gym battle before. I know that I will probably lose as well. I was lucky that I could bring down Winona's dragonite and Liza's lunatone with Dolly's Destiny Bond, but the same tactic probably won't work of Juan. He would have known by now of Dolly's capabilities and would prevent her from using Destiny Bond in the first place.

I cannot help but let a small savage grin appear on my face. There's a very high chance of us losing this battle, but that doesn't mean that we will go down easily.

We will give him the dance he asked for.

* * *

 **AN: It's kind of funny that I wrote the shortest chapter I have ever written right after writing the longest chapter. I wanted to write more for this chapter, but no matter how I think about it, it just feels right to cut the chapter off right here.**

 **On a side note, I'm planning to add another pokemon to Velda's team after the Ever Grande Conference. I have a few ideas of my own but I wanted some suggestions from you guys. Try not to suggest anymore regional starters or overused pokemons. I think it would be more interesting to use pokemons that are uncommon, but yet have the potential to be truly strong. I was thinking of letting the new member have a typing that isn't present in Velda's team yet, like ice or steel.**

 **The next chapter will be about the Sootopolis gym battle, and probably the very last chapter I'm going to write and publish until my hiatus is over. Thank you for your unwavering support thus far and I will try to write out a memorable gym battle as soon as possible.**

 **Hoped you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar (Kratos), male**


	20. Chapter 20- Power

In my opinion, every gym challenge has a value or ideology that the gym leader wanted to test the challenger in. For Rustboro, it is the depth of your knowledge and how you apply it. Dewford tested whether you have the spirit to keep going in the face of adversity. The Mauville gym challenge needed challengers to be able to surprise their opponents to secure a win. The Lavaridge gym challenge can only be completed if you are able to continue to keep your cool even when you are under heat. Petalburg's gym challenge is to test whether you are able to achieve balance between the different aspects of battling. Fortree's gym challenge rewards challengers who have the ability to react on the fly without the fear of falling. Mossdeep gym challenge places emphasis on teamwork and the strength of your mind.

Sootopolis gym challenge tested only one thing. The one thing that challengers will need to grasp if they wanted to enter the Ever Grande Conference.

Power.

Juan's ideology was painfully obvious the moment I stepped into the gym. Unlike the other gym challenges where there are several options to reach the gym leader, there was only one path to take if you want to face Juan. A single road made of ice with ten gym trainers along the way, each of them have six pokemons which were at least advanced level in strength. You will need to squeeze out every single thing you've learnt from the previous gym challenges when facing them, and even then you will need more if you want to come out unscathed at the end of it.

You need power, for if you don't possess it, none of the lessons you learnt from the previous gym challenges will be of enough help to get you through the Sootopolis gym trainers.

I have to face sixty different advanced level pokemons to reach Juan.

My team have a glaring weakness to water type pokemons with members like Kratos, Flamel, and Toothless on my team. We were far from helpless when facing Water Specialists, but it is still a weakness that any Water Specialist worth their salt can take advantage of. None of my pokemon have an advantage over water types save Fuzzy and Lily. However, Fuzzy's species isn't suited for battle while Lily is still a part rock type. There are members on my team that I was forced to not use against Juan due to their huge weakness to water type pokemons, and by extension, ice type moves as well, which are common among water type pokemons.

I had decided to not use Kratos, Flamel, Kel, and Snap against Juan. I chose Kratos and Flamel for obvious reasons, none of them are well-equipped to face water type pokemons. Kratos is still in the growing phase and his defensive techniques against water type attacks will not be enough against someone of Juan's calibre. Flamel's species have a very narrow movelist and only a few were able to do some damage against water type pokemons, so I have to count him out. Kel does not like to battle, and while she does not have a distinct weakness to water types, she does not have a solid advantage against them as well. Snap is very weak against ice type moves although he have ways to defend himself from it, but I don't think it will be enough for him to beat Juan's pokemons.

Fuzzy gave me the biggest surprise. He had been participating in every single training session ever since I woke up in Ever Grande Hospital and he trained diligently. My hospitalisation and the war we experienced back at Lilycove must have affected him even more than I thought. He wanted to try to go against a gym leader's pokemon and practically begged me to send him out to battle against Juan the moment we started training in Sootopolis. Fuzzy's species, by my estimation, could only ever reach the power of an advanced level at the maximum. I had never saw, or read about a pachirisu that reached a higher level than that. We can try, but the success rate will be very low and we will probably never succeed in making him strong enough to reach Elite level. I don't have the heart to reject his plea to battle and promised him that he will get to fight at least one of Juan's pokemon. Fuzzy is an electric type and could possibly do something that the other members of the team couldn't do. With that in mind, I trained him even harder than the rest of my team since he had a lot to catch up on.

We spent two weeks preparing for our battle against Juan. He would have probably watched all seven videos of my previous gym challenges given how interested the gym leaders were in my progress. He would know what to use and expect against me. I need more surprises, more tactics, and I need more power.

I need power. I need something strong enough to bring him down in a single blow, and that was the main thing I trained my team in during our two weeks of training.

I don't think we will ever be fully ready against Juan's kingdra no matter how much we prepare, but I am confident that we can bring down the other five pokemons that he will use against me. He did say that his kingdra will be the only Elite level pokemon he will use against me, and that alone spoke how confident he is in his kingdra's ability to bring my entire team down.

I didn't doubt his confidence, not even for a single moment.

Nevertheless, I only wanted to spend two weeks in Sootopolis before I left the city. I stopped all training by the end of the twelfth day of training and declared a break for all of us the next day before attempting the gym challenge on the fourteenth day. Our break was spent wandering around the unexplored parts of the city and lazing around. I wanted everyone to relax and have fun before we go in for the most grueling gym challenge we ever faced.

We have amassed power, now it's time to use it.

* * *

The Sootopolis gym trainers were crazily strong. I know my gym challenge was going to be harder than most simply because I was stubborn on only using four pokemons to face the gym trainers who uses only water type pokemons, and three of the pokemons I used have a weakness to either water or ice type attacks. Each of the four pokemons I sent out have to defeat an average of fifteen pokemon individually and that is a demanding task for them both physically and mentally. I lost count on how many potions I have to use to keep them in fighting condition.

The rewards were worth it. Kel, Snap, Toothless, and Kratos may be tired and worn out by the time we defeated the tenth gym trainer, but the rest of our team were fully rested and ready to battle Juan.

Juan was waiting for me with a smile on his face when I reached the end of the ice road. He silently gestured for me to follow him into a huge room where an arena waited for us. The arena was specially made. The arena was filled with both water and earth with lush green grass growing on it. It looked as if it was a scenery taken from a meandering river which can often be found near Fortree. The artificial river cut across the arena in an 'S' shape and is very wide, with the earth piled on both sides of the river that looked like river banks. I don't know how deep the river was but it has to be deep enough for Juan's pokemon to unleash their full potential while fighting. I hoped that Juan's arena won't change just as how Winona's did. I don't think my poor brain can take anymore surprises for today after defeating ten of his gym trainers.

"Beautiful, isn't it? I put in a lot of thought into designing this arena. I wanted to battle my challengers in an arena that can not only display the full strength of my pokemons, but also the elegance they hold."

"It is beautiful." I admitted. "Won't it be a pain to repair the damages after the battles? Growing the grass back must be really troublesome."

"By all rights, it should be. However, my ludicolo's skill in repairing the greenery has been mastered down to an art form. He can regrow all the grass back beautifully in the same time you take to make your tea. He is my wife's favourite pokemon when it comes to tending to her garden."

I blinked. Now that's something I want to see.

"You absolutely have to show me how your ludicolo does that after our battle. I never saw anything like that before."

Juan laughed at my remark. The registration process was completed just at that exact moment and we prepared ourselves for our battle.

"Let us begin our match, shall we?" Juan said as he produced a pokeball from his pocket in a stylish manner. "Please, you shall bear witness to our artistry. A grand illusion of water sculpted by Pokémon and myself!"

Juan released a luvdisc onto the arena which levitated a few meters above ground. I gave a smile as I palmed a pokeball in my hand.

It's time to begin our dance.

* * *

"Fuzzy, dodge it!"

Fuzzy dodged a Water Pulse that would have knocked him out of battle if it had connected. Juan's luvdisc had started off with a Rain Dance that activated its Swift Swim ability. It increased its speed to insane levels right off the bat. Fuzzy won't lose in the speed department but it was harder for him to get an advantage over luvdisc when it simply sped around in the rain. Fuzzy's Shock Wave was the only attack Fuzzy have that can guarantee a hit on the pink fish and even then it was usually cancelled out with a huge blast of water from its Water Pulse. Fuzzy's electric attacks was also weakened from luvdisc's Mud Sport.

We need to stop the damn rain, or turn it into our advantage. If only Fuzzy could fly like he used to on Snap's back...

Wait. Could he...? Maybe? Does it even work that way for Fuzzy? Vance's metagross did managed to use it to fly, didn't it?

"Fuzzy! Magnet Rise! Fly into the rain clouds!"

Fuzzy gave a squeak as he charged his entire body with electricity to induce magnetism. Little by little, he started to levitate off the ground and then launched himself vertically into the air with a burst of speed as he disappeared into the clouds.

 _It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Superman!_

Shutting down that nonsensical thought in my head, I gave Fuzzy my next command.

"Thunder! Charge all the water in the clouds with electricity!"

The rain clouds suddenly flashed before it rained _lightning_ down on luvdisc and the entire arena. It was only for a short moment as the rain clouds were dispersed after Fuzzy's Thunder ended, but it was the most damage we had dealt to luvdisc in our battle so far. Luvdisc had somehow managed to partially block the attack with a huge blast of Water Pulse. Together with the Mud Sport it used earlier, luvdisc was only singed, but not out of the count yet.

Fuzzy had landed back onto the ground, he is not yet good enough with Magnet Rise. Even from Fuzzy's amateur use in this move, I can start to see the beauty of this technique, especially if Fuzzy managed to master it one day. It will be invaluable for him to be able to achieve flight through magnetism in battles. We need to train more in this technique after this gym battle.

"Ion Deluge! Then Quick Attack!"

Fuzzy sparked once more as he dispersed electrically charged particles that changes normal type moves to electric type moves. He disappeared in a blur as he rammed himself into luvdisc with a Quick Attack and sent it reeling back for a short distance. To my delight, Fuzzy had also managed to paralyse luvdisc. He probably added in a Nuzzle during the short physical contact he had with luvdisc after the Quick Attack.

Atta Boy.

"Luvdisc, dive into the water! Then Aqua Ring!"

I stared with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation as luvdisc dove into the artificial river. Juan has to know that the potency of electric type attacks increases when used underwater. The fact that he allowed luvdisc to get in there means luvdisc had a way to defend itself from electric type attacks while underwater. Forcing it out of the water with direct electricity probably won't work, I have to force it out without the use of electric type attacks.

"Fuzzy, direct Echoed Voice into the water. Force luvdisc out!"

Thank you, Norman, for showing me the wonders of sound-based techniques when used underwater.

Fuzzy shouted into the waters in an echoing voice, the power of Echoed Voice increasing the longer it was being used. The fact that the normal type attack had been converted to electric type attack via Ion Deluge was just another bonus if the move actually managed to damage luvdisc directly. It took a while, but luvdisc was finally forced out of the water when the Echoed Voice got too loud and painful for it to bear.

"Nail it with Electro Ball and Charge Beam!"

Fuzzy wasted no time in throwing crackling orbs of electricity at the disoriented fish while trying to snipe it with Charge Beams. He got a few hits in thanks to the paralysis from Nuzzle, it had slowed luvdisc's speed significantly. Fuzzy tried to get closer to luvdisc while not letting up on his attacks as luvdisc tried to avoid him while returning fire. It was a lost cause for luvdisc, Fuzzy was simply too nimble for its attacks to hit him.

Fuzzy used an unexpected Grass Knot, a move he learnt from Lily, when luvdisc got too close to dry land. The grass caught her and Fuzzy used a Quick Attack to reach luvdisc quickly and pinned it down.

"Hyper Fang! Then Thunderbolt! Don't let up!"

Fuzzy bit into luvdisc with his sharp front teeth as electricity surged through luvdisc, causing it to cry out in pain. Its cries got louder when Fuzzy unleashed a continuous stream of Thunderbolt into his victim, intending to keep it going until luvdisc is out of battle. Juan was forced to recall luvdisc after a while when it became obvious that luvdisc would not be getting out of there.

"Good job, Fuzzy!"

Fuzzy squeaked in delight as he relished in his first ever victory in a gym battle. Fuzzy may never be able to become the strongest pokemon in existence, but we can strive to make him the strongest pachirisu in existence. Judging from our performance, we were doing things right.

Juan sent out a massive crawdaunt that snapped its pincers viciously the moment it appeared. I hesitated for a while as I pondered on whether I should let Fuzzy continue battling. I decided to let him carry on. Fuzzy can still hold his own for a while and help to scout out crawdaunt's abilities.

"Thunder Wave! Then use Charge followed by a Thunderbolt!"

Fuzzy sent out a paralysing wave of electricity just as he dodged a Bubble Beam from crawdaunt. The Thunder Wave struck and I watched in satisfaction as crawdaunt's movement was hindered a little by the electricity. Fuzzy used Charge to double his powers for electric type moves before he produced a massive Thunderbolt to strike crawdaunt.

"Metal Claw!"

I watched in shock as Fuzzy's Thunderbolt was cut into two by a single powerful swipe of crawdaunt's pincers. Crawdaunt used Hone Claws before dashing towards Fuzzy with an Aqua Jet, intending to grab Fuzzy with its pincers. Fuzzy dodged each snap of crawdaunt's pincers with grace and used Double Team to confuse crawdaunt whenever the attacks got a little too much for him to handle. The moment crawdaunt's pincer got too close to the ground with a missed Crabhammer, Fuzzy used his pincer as a springboard and jumped onto crawdaunt's back.

"Fuzzy, Discharge!"

Fuzzy squeaked in acknowledgement as he let loose a flare of electricity to strike at everything around the immediate area. To crawdaunt's credit, it only grunted once in pain before standing upright again, not letting the electricity bother it.

"Use Surf! Get pachirisu off you!"

My fists tightened around the handrails which I was holding onto throughout the battle as a massive wave of water rose from the artificial river. Crawdaunt is planning to use Surf on itself to wash Fuzzy off its back!

"Fuzzy! Get back here with Volt Switch! Hurry!"

Fuzzy let loose another blast of electricity that sent himself flying towards me and to the safety of his pokeball as I sent out Lily to take his place. Lily gave an uninterested look at the wave of water that was about to crash into her and calmly rose a dome of rock walls that surrounded her on all sides, taking refuge within a shelter of rocks. I smiled, this was the same tactic that she used in the Mossdeep gym battle while I was asleep. It was her own invention. Lily can be damn inventive if she puts her mind into it.

Tentacles rose up from all around crawdaunt even before the waters had receded and it wrapped itself tightly around crawdaunt as Lily tried to restrict its movements. Crawdaunt forcefully pushed itself towards the waters with brute strength and Lily was forced to let go to prevent crawdaunt from dragging her into the waters with it.

"Sludge Wave, poison the waters."

Lily's tentacles poised like a bunch of snakes before a huge amount of poison sludge shot out of her tentacles and sprayed into the waters. The water will no longer be usable to Juan's water pokemons unless they wanted to be poisoned. It wouldn't be comfortable for crawdaunt either to be swimming in poisoned waters, it have to come out soon.

Lily narrowly dodged a Dark Pulse that shot out of the water without any prior warning as crawdaunt took the opportunity to make a comeback. It slashed at Lily with Night Slashes and X-Scissors, trying to cut off her tentacles. Lily swayed out of its attacks while moving around the arena with Rock Surf, dancing around crawdaunt while waiting for my next orders.

"Grass Knot! Tangle its legs!"

The grass around crawdaunt lengthened as soon as the words left my mouth as the grass wrapped itself around crawdaunt's legs, tripping it momentarily. Crawdaunt broke through its restraints with brute strength once again and fired Ice Beams at Lily which she blocked by raising walls of stone. Taking crawdaunt down isn't hard, I just need a short moment where I can catch it off guard. Were there any previous instances or examples that I can emulate or mimic during my journey? Who was the epitome of surprises?

My mind was suddenly filled with the sound of an unmistakable _'WAHAHA'_ laughter.

"Flash! Blind it!"

Lily emerged from behind her rock shields as she released a bright flash of light from her body, blinding everyone in the room. Lily took the opportunity to ensnare crawdaunt with her tentacles as she sapped away its strength quickly with Giga Drain. Crawdaunt tried to break free with brute strength once more, but the loss of its strength thanks to Giga Drain prevented it from doing so. It then tried to throw Lily into the waters, but Lily had anchored herself to the ground with Ingrain and won't budge an inch. Its pincers were shut tight as Lily's tentacles wrapped around it tightly. Lily had cut off all of its options.

Except for one.

"Crawdaunt! Hyper Beam!"

A large orange beam of condensed energy gathered at the front of crawdaunt's opened mouth. It was a good attempt to try to break free from Lily's grasp, but it won't be good enough. I don't need to tell Lily what to do next, she understands better than me what needs to be done. This scenario was almost the same as the one she faced in the Mossdeep gym battle when I was asleep.

Crawdaunt's Hyper Beam hit Lily's Protect as the beam of energy was fired only a few feet away from each other. Crawdaunt was damaged by its own attack thanks to the backblast from the collision of Hyper Beam against Protect at such a close distance. Lily's tentacles were singed, but it was nothing she couldn't heal from Giga Drain, and if need be, Recover. Crawdaunt was still conscious and kicking, and tried to use a Guillotine to cut itself free and defeat Lily with a one-hit-KO move. Lily interrupted crawdaunt with a Confuse Ray, which made it dizzy and lose its balance.

"Solar Beam, finish it!"

Crawdaunt was helpless in its confused state as Lily charged up a Solar Beam and fired at crawdaunt, taking it out.

Lily's injuries from her battle with crawdaunt had all healed by now. There are very few that can stand up to Lily's healing abilities and win. The easiest way to get around her recovery moves is to freeze her with ice type attacks, since it is the only way to physically get around Lily's tentacles and prevent it from moving. Even now, we had never managed to overcome this obstacle yet.

And of course, an ice type pokemon was what Juan have to send out next. He really has a good eye for weaknesses.

"Walrein, Blizzard!"

"Rock Armour!"

Walrein unleashed a raging storm of ice and snow at Lily as she coated herself with rocks as her armour. It will protect her from the brunt of the Blizzard but it won't stop her body temperature from getting low, which can be very dangerous for her species. We need to stop the Blizzard quickly.

"Spit Up!"

Lily's typical battle habits is to keep Stockpiling non-stop the moment she appears for battle. You never know when you need an immediate recovery move that can be used within a second to bring you back to full health or to release a sudden burst of power that can bring down your foes in a single hit. In this case, a sudden huge burst of power is what we needed.

Lily released all of her stored powers as she slammed her tentacles on the unsuspecting walrein. Walrein was hit with so much force that it was sent flying to the other end of the arena. I took the opportunity to recall Lily. Dolly would be better suited to take down this behemoth.

Dolly appeared onto the battlefield with a cackle as she dove into the shadows to try and reach walrein. Walrein had recovered by now and tried to hit Dolly with concentrated blasts of Powder Snow and Water Gun to no avail. Dolly finally closed the distance between the both of them with Shadow Sneak as Juan gave out his next command to walrein.

"Crunch!"

Dolly would have been mincemeat if she hadn't managed to pull off a Protect at the last second to save herself. She immediately hid herself with Phantom Force after that and reappeared far away from walrein, chattering in anger. Juan must have known from the videos of my previous gym challenges that Dolly loves to sneak up to her opponents and poison them with Toxic when she got close enough. He is preventing that from happening to his pokemons. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Luckily, I had planned for scenarios like these. It would be the first time we are testing it in a real battle but the results should not disappoint.

"Dolly, Shadow Wisp barrage."

Dolly cackled in delight as numerous Shadow Balls formed around her. However, what's different about these Shadow Balls is that they are burning with a sinister, bluish-white flame. Dolly and I have managed to combine the effects of Shadow Ball together with Will-O-Wisp, giving us a long range alternative to inflict status ailment on our foes while dealing damage at the same time.

The flaming Shadow Balls shot towards walrein as it tried to block it with a huge wall of water from Surf. The Shadow Balls pierced the wall of water and impacted against walrein as it was pushed back. Walrein had been inflicted with a burn as well.

"Night Shade!"

Shadow Wisp took a fair bit of energy to use and Dolly cannot keep it up forever. She usually needs to take a short break from using Shadow Balls after Shadow Wisp and Night Shade is a very good alternative to Shadow Balls during times like these. Walrein was inflicted with a frightening mirage from Night Shade as the ghostly energy from Night Shade damaged it, causing it to tremble with agony.

"Walrein, use Blizzard to freeze the waters! Steamroll the banette with Rollout!"

The waters in the artificial river was quickly frozen as walrein curled up in a ball and started to roll towards Dolly at high speeds across the frozen waters. Dolly tried to stop its charge with Charge Beams and Hex but the attack just bounced off walrein without a scratch. Dolly was immediately forced to run away from walrein, trying not to get flatten by walrein's Rollout as it continued to gain momentum from the roll.

"Dolly, stop the Rollout with Disable! Follow it up with Foul Play!"

Walrein came to an abrupt stop with Dolly's Disable and it was smacked painfully by Dolly's Foul Play. Dolly also blasted a few Hexs at walrein while she was at it and walrein tried to pin it down with several uses of Water Pulse.

"Walrein, put banette to sleep with Yawn!"

"Dolly, Magic Coat!"

My heart soared as I watched walrein's Yawn being reflected back against it. Now is our chance.

"Dolly, use Calm Mind then Dream Eater!"

"Walrein, Sleep Talk!"

Dolly avoided walrein's Aurora Beams as she quietly focused her mind and spirit. She then unleashed a wave of psychic energy that seeped into walrein and ate its dreams, causing it to spasm violently on the ground and woke it up.

"Dolly, Thunderbolt!"

"Double Team! Avoid it!"

Dolly's Thunderbolt missed as walrein created after-images of itself around the arena. This is going to be such a pain.

"Dolly, use Feint Attack to seek it out, be careful of a counter-attack!"

Dolly disappeared into the shadows once again as she punched the real walrein, disrupting its focus to maintain Double Team. As I expected, walrein tried to grab Dolly once again with Crunch, but Dolly simply sent a Shadow Ball that forced it to abort its attack and Dolly used the opportunity to pull herself away from walrein.

"Walrein, Swallow."

Oh shit, the walrein line knows the Stockpile, Spit Up, and Swallow combo?

"Dolly, quick! Use Snatch!"

To my relief, Dolly managed to steal the effects of walrein's Swallow just in time to prevent it from healing back up. Walrein was enraged as it tried to destroy Dolly with Water Pulses but Dolly simply hid in the shadows once more. This battle had gone on long enough. Walrein should have been worn down from the burnt status ailment and all the combined damage being inflicted onto it by Lily and Dolly. Dolly is still at perfect health thanks to Dream Eater and Snatch. We should be able to end this soon.

"Dolly, use Confuse Ray, then use Calm Mind followed by Thunder!"

A beam of ghostly energy hit walrein from one of the shadows. Walrein tried to shake off the confusion it felt and Dolly fell unnaturally silent as she remained hidden in the shadows. A few seconds later, a large column of electricity burst from the shadow below walrein as it gave a loud scream. Walrein lay paralysed on the ground, convulsing from the electricity running through its body. Juan recalled walrein a few seconds later as he stroked his mustache with a smile on his face.

"Well done, Velda. Pokemons on the advanced level are obviously no match for you. Still, there are two more to go before you finally face Theo." Juan released another pokemon for battle. "Whiscash, dazzle them!"

An enormous whiscash appeared for battle as it landed on the ground, not bothered at the slightest that it isn't being released into the waters. The whiscash gave a low rumble, and immediately started off with... a _Dragon Dance_?

 _What?!_

"Whiscash, Waterfall!"

Whiscash coated itself with water type energy before launching itself at Dolly who managed to hide in the shadows just in time. This did not stop Whiscash as it proceeded to force Dolly out with a Magnitude, causing her to take substantial damage.

"Dolly, return! Toothless, Sunny Day!"

I recalled Dolly before she got hurt any further and Toothless immediately took to the skies upon his arrival. Light shone onto the arena as he bathed the arena in flames, trapping whiscash in a Fire Spin who does not seemed worried at all.

"Whiscash, Water Pulse."

A large pulsing blast of water shot out from whiscash's mouth as it extinguished the Fire Spin and it tried to bury Toothless with a Rock Slide. Toothless glided across the air effortlessly as whiscash continued its futile attempts to hit him with Rock Slide.

"Toothless, Solar Beam!"

Thanks to Sunny Day, Toothless was able to fire beams upon beams of Solar Beam at whiscash as it was forced to flop around on the ground and run away from Toothless's onslaught of attacks. I couldn't help but admire Juan's ability to train whiscash's ability to dodge attacks on the ground since whiscash hasn't been hit yet by a Solar Beam. To add on, the way whiscash dodged Toothless's attacks was really elegant despite the fact that it was flopping around.

Whiscash finally made it to the frozen artificial river and immediately broke the ice on the surface to swim beneath the waters. The waters were poisoned by Lily earlier but whiscash probably had a high tolerance to hazardous environments. Their species were known to thrive in the dirtiest of waters. That doesn't matter, there is more than one way to use the poison from Sludge Wave.

"Toothless, boil it alive!"

Toothless gave a delighted roar as he unleashed a massive Inferno onto the waters. The ice on the surface melted. However, our goal wasn't the ice, it was the sludge from the Sludge Wave that Lily released into the waters earlier. Unknown to most, the sludge produced from attacks such as Sludge Bomb and Sludge Wave often have thick layers of oil on them, something which many people don't know or realised.

They also make very good fuel.

The water on the surface burned as the entire artificial river caught fire as black, putrid smoke rose into the air. Toothless flew high into the sky, ready to fire his attacks on whiscash the moment it came out.

To my surprise, whiscash used a Whirlpool. The waters swirled as the oil on the water surface was temporarily pushed under and extinguished the flames. Toothless unleashed another Inferno to reignite the oil floating on the waters but was stopped once again by the same tactic.

"Toothless, use Work Up. Wait for whiscash to come out."

Toothless heeded my commands as he raised his offensive powers in his wait for his foe to show up. A huge wall of Muddy Water rose from the river a few seconds later and Toothless blasted a hole through the waters with a Dragon Pulse before flying through it to safety. I bit my lower lips and tried to think of ways to force whiscash out of the water but my mind came to a blank. Maybe it's time to be a little bit reckless, Toothless definitely had the power to pull off a certain maneuver. It was a last resort that I really don't want to use since it can be very taxing on Toothless, but the results should be worth it.

"Toothless, dive into the waters! Evaporate it with Flare Blitz!"

Toothless gave another roar as he cloaked himself with flames and dove into the waters eagerly. I could see the bright red flames underneath the waters as it grew bigger and bigger. The heat in the entire arena grew hotter and the water from the river visibly turned into steam at a rapid rate. Whiscash couldn't get too close to Toothless unless it wanted to suffer a severe burn and any water attacks it unleashed on Toothless will simply turn into steam as well when Toothless had increased the intensity of his flames to this extent. Toothless is now coated with a burning armour of fire.

About a minute or two later, the waters had fully evaporated from the artificial river and Toothless gave a savage grin at whiscash, who was unable to do anything to stop Toothless from ridding the waters. Whiscash sent a barrage of Water Pulses at him but Toothless simply sent waves of Air Slashes that prevented the Water Pulses from reaching him. Whiscash had ran out of options.

Toothless charged up a massive Solar Beam and fired it at whiscash, who tried to raise walls of stones to block the attack. To my relief, its proficiency in rock type techniques is still not good enough for that purpose. Toothless's Solar Beam punctured a huge hole in that pile of rocks and blasted whiscash all the way to the other end of the arena, snagging another win for us.

Toothless gave another roar of victory as he relished in his moment of glory and I gave a sigh of fond exasperation. Toothless's battle lust had reared its head again.

Juan sent out a politoed next, who immediately started on a Rain Dance that blocked out the sunlight. Toothless fired a few Air Slashes at it only for politoed to leap away. Politoed used a Water Sport to weaken the effects of fire type attacks when Toothless unleashed a Flamethrower at it, allowing politoed to suffer close to no damage thanks to both the rain and Water Sport.

I recalled Toothless and sent out Rena. She would be the best candidate to handle politoed.

Rena appeared gracefully for battle and she started off with a Calm Mind before firing Psybeams at Politoed. Politoed shot a jet of water with Scald but Rena dodged it effortlessly and they continued to clash with each other with water and psychic type attacks. Rena managed to use a Grass Knot to trip politoed and followed up with a huge wave of Psychic, pressing politoed into the ground. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground where politoed was pressed on and it gave way to form a crater on the ground where politoed lay. Politoed cut off the Psychic attack by shooting a Hydro Pump at Rena which she managed to defend herself from with a Protect. The momentum of the blast still sent her skidding back and politoed took the chance to leap at her and punched her with a Mega Punch. Seeing that there were no time to dodge or use another Protect, Rena fought back using a Zen Headbutt, and the collision of attacks produced a shockwave that shook the arena. Both of them leapt back after the attacks, sizing each other up.

Playtime's over.

"Politoed, Ice Rain."

With a croak, politoed jumped up high into the sky and let out a huge blast of Icy Wind onto the falling rain produced from Rain Dance. The rain turned into needles of ice as it rained down on Rena. Rena remained standing on her spot motionlessly as she stopped the icicles with her psychic powers. She turned the sharp end of the needles back towards politoed and fired the needles back at it with speeds so fast that it left a sonic boom in its wake. Politoed shot down the needles with another blast of water from Hydro Pump before landing on the ground. It was preparing to use another attack when it was suddenly caught by a Future Sight that Rena had prepared since the start of the battle. Rena took the opportunity to fire a few Shadow Balls that knocked politoed back, but it quickly recovered its bearings and croaked out a loud Hyper Voice. Rena tried to shut it up by using a Yawn, a move she just learnt, only for politoed to coincidentally use a Hypnosis at the same moment. Both pokemon fell asleep at the same time on the battlefield as my eyes met Juan's on the other end of the arena.

"Sleep Talk!"

Both Juan and I commanded our pokemons at the same time and both politoed and Rena got back on their feet and began to battle in their sleep. I would have laughed out loud at this hilarious scene if it wasn't for the fact that this is our final gym battle in the Hoenn circuit and I have to be serious about it. Both politoed and Rena used a wide variety of moves in their sleep-induced combat. Sleep Talk allows the user to randomly use a move they knew in their sleep. Both pokemons engaged each other in close combat as they clawed, punched, and swiped at each other with any moves they knew. There were some occasional ranged attacks being fired. Both Rena and politoed were starting to wear each other down and it became a race to see who will wake up from their slumber first. We were in luck when Rena used a Heal Bell by accident thanks to Sleep Talk, allowing her to wake up earlier than politoed.

Upon my command, Rena unleashed Stored Power, a move that increases in power the more the user uses power boosting moves. Rena had been continuously using Calm Mind to increase the damage of her ranged attacks. The increase has been slowed down due to the fact that she was using it while battling instead of sitting still to use it properly like what Dolly did, but the increase had still built up to a substantial amount, enough for Stored Power to deal massive amount of damage to politoed and knocked it out.

We did not stop there. There's still one more pokemon that we have to face. A foe that could possibly take down all six members of the team that I had chosen to battle Juan.

The presence of Juan's kingdra on the battlefield changed things. For one, there is a stark contrast to the difference in power as compared to the previous five pokemons we faced. With a single trill, the rain from politoed's Rain Dance turned into a downpour that filled the empty riverbed with water within seconds. Politoed's Rain Dance barely filled a quarter of the empty riverbed when Toothless evaporated the waters of the artificial river.

Rena would have been taken out of the battle if it she didn't managed to use a Detect to dodge a Water Pulse that kingdra shot at her. Kingdra is fast, and its ability was definitely Swift Swim as well given how fast it moved in the rain even when it levitates itself above the waters. Rena quickly used a Morning Sun to heal her injuries, but the effect is not as effective due to the lack of sunlight which was blocked by the rain clouds from Rain Dance. Rena sent Psybeams at kingdra since it was the only attack that she can fire fast enough to keep up with kingdra's speed. Kingdra looked like it was barely trying as it dodged Rena's attacks, and actually looked bored while doing so.

"Theo, Waterfall."

With a sudden burst of speed, kingdra blurred from my vision as it slammed into Rena at high speeds and sent her crashing towards the psychic barrier at my end of the arena. Rena lay unconscious on the ground below. Juan's kingdra had taken her out with a single hit.

I recalled Rena and sent out Dolly. The rain clouds provided enough shadows for Dolly to hide in and hopefully this would be enough to even the playing field a little.

"Dolly, Pain Split!"

With a howl, Dolly managed to slam herself into kingdra to split their health equally and Dolly healed herself from the damage she sustained from Juan's whiscash. We cannot allow ourselves to get hit by kingdra. One attack is all it needs to take us out.

"Evasive and anti-tank maneuvers! Don't let it hit you!"

Dolly dashed in and out of the shadows as she fired her attacks. Most of them didn't connect and the few which did were blocked off with a Water Pulse. Water Pulse seemed to be the bread and butter move for every single one of Juan's pokemon due to how proficient they are in it. I'm not sure what kind of difference it will make if I prevented kingdra from using that move, but it's something we can try.

"Dolly, Disable and Taunt!"

Dolly disabled kingdra's Water Pulse and used Taunt to force kingdra to use only attacking moves. The attacks from kingdra got more faster and more furious as it now shot Scalds at Dolly. Dolly hid in the shadows once again and with another ghostly screech, she planted a Curse onto kingdra.

It's not a move that I allowed Dolly to use often, but facing Juan's kingdra warranted such a course of action.

The effect was instantaneous as Juan's kingdra winced a little in pain when Curse was first planted. The pain it felt was enough to disrupt its focus to maintain Rain Dance and the rain stopped. Kingdra gave up on using Rain Dance due to Taunt and tried to shoot Dolly with Scald and Dragon Pulse. Dolly played a game of hide-and-seek as she fired attacks of her own and dodged back to the shadows immediately after to prevent kingdra from hitting her with its attacks. What Dolly needs to do now is to slowly wear kingdra down, and she was doing a good job at it so far.

"Theo, flood the arena with Surf!"

My mouth widened in disbelief as a huge wall of water rose to the height of the ceiling from the ground and fell onto the arena, flooding the entire arena in an instant as the psychic barriers on the edge of the arena barely held the waters in. Kingdra dove into the waters, intent on finding and finishing Dolly off in its own domain.

"Dolly, Thunder!"

The arena-turned-lake lighted up in a lightshow of sparks and electricity. Just when I thought that Dolly had managed to deal a significant blow to kingdra, she was forced out of the water with kingdra hot on her heels. Dolly managed to dodge a Dragon Pulse with a Double Team before attacking with a Sucker Punch. Kingdra withstood her attacks and fired off a Scald but Dolly was faster and disappeared with Phantom Force. I gave a shout of delight when I saw that Dolly had managed to land a Toxic on kingdra in the brief moment of contact that they had. We have a chance now that kingdra is being inflicted with both Curse and Toxic.

"Theo, finish it."

Kingdra yawned as a massive Whirlpool formed from the waters of the lake and trapped Dolly in it before she could dive back into the shadows. She tried to use a Protect to defend herself but the speeds which she was spun around disrupted her focus. I commanded Dolly to hide with Phantom Force, but we were too late as a Flash Cannon from kingdra caught Dolly and knocked Dolly out for the count as well.

I gritted my teeth, I knew that it was an almost impossible mission to take Juan's kingdra down. It has seen battle longer than I had been born in this world, but I never expected for it to be this ridiculously strong.

I sent Toothless out next, who roared his challenge at kingdra as he flew up into the air.

"Be careful, Toothless! Kingdra had only used a single hit to take down Rena and Dolly!"

Toothless visibly stiffened, he knew how hard it was to take the both of them down even if they were not the strongest members of the team.

"Get rid of the waters!"

Toothless cloaked himself in flames using Flare Blitz once again as kingdra used a Whirlpool to trap Toothless. Toothless struggled a little, but managed to disperse the Whirlpool with a powerful flap of his wings and used an Air Slash to sent the waters crashing back down onto the ground. He bathed the arena with flames using Inferno and quickly evaporated the waters causing the arena to revert back to its original self. Toothless shot Dragon Pulses at kingdra, while kingdra floated into the air and shot back blasts of water at Toothless as the both of them engaged in an aerial battle. Toothless doesn't really need to hit kingdra, Dolly's Toxic and Curse will do the job for us, all we have to do is to wait it out.

"Theo, heal up with Rest, then Sleep Talk"

Crap. Dolly's Taunt ended, didn't it?

Kingdra fell asleep in midair as it continued to dodge Toothless attacks while firing random attacks of its own in its sleep. Somehow, it seemed more adept in aerial battles while sleeping. Toothless tried to grab it and damage kingdra with physical moves while firing Dragon Pulses but kingdra always moved itself out of his reach. It soon woke up, and tried to summon the rain once more but the rain clouds were dispersed with a huge wind from Toothless's Defog. Toothless managed to slam into kingdra with a Dragon Rush and moved out of the way quickly when kingdra used a Water Pulse, the effect from Dolly's Disable had since disappeared a while ago.

"Theo, Surf!"

Kingdra summoned a huge wave of water that obscured our vision. Toothless snorted as he blasted a hole through the wave with a Solar Beam and flew through it. He was about to fire off another attack when he suddenly dropped out of the sky, snoring along the way.

 _Toothless was put to sleep?! Since when?! How?!_

I didn't have the chance to command Toothless to use Sleep Talk. Juan commanded his kingdra to use Water Pulse and it took Toothless out of the battle too.

That's three members of my team that kingdra had defeated so far. I clenched my teeth as I recalled Toothless. Kingdra must have used a Yawn back when it summoned a huge wave of water that blocked our vision of it. That wave of water had no other purpose than blocking our vision since both Juan and I knew that Toothless is capable of dealing with huge amount of water without getting hurt.

I need to watch out for such a trick happening to the rest of my team later.

I sent out Bigblue next, who hasn't battled since the start of my battle with Juan. If he lost, I'm giving up on this gym battle. Fuzzy definitely won't be able to do anything against kingdra and Lily's recovery abilities will not be enough to defend herself from the ice type attacks that I'm sure kingdra knew. Sending them out against kingdra is akin to suicide.

"Bigblue, swamp the area!"

Bigblue obeyed my commands as he immediately liquefied the ground and turned the entire arena into a swamp with a gigantic Whirlpool. Kingdra shot an Ice Beam at Bigblue but Bigblue retaliated with a Scald. The steaming jet of hot water vaporised the Ice Beam and a white mist blanketed the arena. Bigblue took this opportunity to rain down a huge amount of pebbles onto kingdra, forcing it to back off. We can still play the waiting game. Kingdra may have removed the poison from Toxic, but it doesn't have any moves that is capable of removing the Curse Dolly planted on it.

Kingdra created a shield of water that prevented most of the pebbles from penetrating through it. With a loud bellow, Bigblue quickly summoned a huge rock the size of a curled up steelix and slammed it down onto kingdra from above, creating a huge crater onto the ground below. Kingdra burst out of the rubble with a blast of water and shot more Water Pulses at Bigblue. Bigblue didn't panic, but calmly raised wall of rocks that blocked the attacks although each wall of rocks were blasted into pieces the moment kingdra's Water Pulse hit it. Bigblue charged in with a Battering Ram and knocked kingdra back before he used his own body weight to pin it down. Bigblue was about to punch it in its face with a Mega Punch but kingdra blasted him off with a Hydro Pump. Bigblue wasn't deterred, and used an Earth Power to blindside it before charging in again with another Battering Ram. Kingdra tried to dodge this time, but found itself unable to do so as it was stuck in the swamp Bigblue had created.

I grinned. Kingdra may be able to swim at high speeds underwater, but that doesn't necessarily apply to swamps.

Bigblue's Mega Punch connected this time as each punch sent kingdra deeper and deeper into the swamp. Kingdra tried to blast Bigblue off again, but Bigblue squeezed its snout shut with one of its flipper-hands and continued punching kingdra with the other.

"Theo, Bounce!"

I watched in surprise as kingdra bounced up into the air with a powerful jump by slamming its tail onto the ground. Bigblue was brought along for the ride as he was still squeezing its snout tightly. A Headbutt from kingdra forced Bigblue to let go as they both fell onto the ground. Bigblue liquefied the ground upon contact and it mitigated any damage he would felt if he hadn't done so, kingdra merely floated in the air as things went back to square one once again.

Kingdra shot an Aurora Beam this time as Bigblue dodged the attack with Rock Surf, trying to force kingdra to engage him in close combat once more. Kingdra wisely kept its distance as it floated high into the air and rained attacks down from above. Bigblue responded in kind by summoning pebbles above where kingdra was floating and rained his own attacks down on it. The entire arena was pelted with rocks and blasts of water and the exchange of attacks destroyed the beautifully designed arena.

I kind of feel bad for Juan's ludicolo already. There's a lot of work to be done to restore the arena back to its former state.

"Theo, end the battle! Absolute Zero!"

Kingdra sprayed a huge curtain of water around the arena as it destroyed all of the falling rocks in one fell swoop. Its eyes glowed briefly and I recognised it as a Laser Focus. Kingdra is planning something big, and probably something to do with ice as well given the name of the combo.

"Careful, Bigblue! Kingdra is using Laser Focus! Watch out for its ice type attacks!"

Another huge wave of water rose from the ground with Surf, this time even bigger than any other Surfs I had seen in our battles, and it dragged Bigblue down under as the wave created a huge lake of water that was about thirty feet in depth. Juan and I were safe outside the arena where the psychic barriers prevented the waters from leaking out, but Bigblue wasn't spared from kingdra's attacks. Bigblue tried to defend himself with Protect, but the wave of water was a force of nature that cannot be stopped with Protects or rocks, it was way too big in scale.

Kingdra reared its head back and unleashed a massive Blizzard onto the lake. I watched in horror as the entire lake was frozen like a gigantic ice cube, with Bigblue trapped inside it.

Bigblue was trapped within thirty feet of solid ice that was as large as the arena within ten seconds.

The ice shook and cracked as Bigblue managed to make his way out of his icy prison with an Earthquake. The tremors from Earthquake allowed him to break the ice enough for him to dig his way out. He was exhausted and he took a lot of damage from the cold. Bigblue was barely standing as his Torrent ability kicked in, giving him a boost of power that he hoped will be able to take kingdra down. I watched in pride as Bigblue stood tall against Juan's kingdra despite the difference in powers. For a moment, I had a vision and saw the outline of the same mudkip that faced Roxanne's nosepass and had placed absolute trust in me to use a Counter to help earn us a Stone Badge, our very first gym badge. The vision faded as quickly as it had came and I saw Bigblue glancing back at me while trying to catch his breath in the cold. Juan's kingdra had turned the arena into a frozen tundra and it was freezing in there.

I know Bigblue wanted to carry on battling, but the outcome was obvious the moment Juan's kingdra unleashed that Blizzard. It was playing with us all along, we never stood a chance. I still smiled, we had came far enough in our journey ever since I first started it with Flamel and Bigblue. The fact that Juan used his kingdra against us meant that we were powerful in our own right, and that's enough for me.

I gave Bigblue a shake of my head as I pressed the forfeit button. I don't want to see him get himself unnecessarily hurt. We wanted to test our strength, and we got our results. It's enough.

I quickly made my way down onto the arena and slid myself on the ice towards Bigblue. Bigblue caught me gently as I checked him over for any serious injuries. I sprayed some potions over his wounds to ease the pain he felt and gave him a hug as I whispered to him.

"Good job, Bigblue. But that's enough for now. That kingdra is way out of our league. You had the best chance out of everyone in defeating kingdra. If even you cannot defeat it, then no one else on our team can. It's enough, I don't want to see you get hurt anymore."

Bigblue gave me a hug as well as he tried to shield me from the cold with his big arms. He knew my body cannot adapt well to sudden changes in temperature. I smiled softly at his gesture.

"That was a truly artistic battle, Velda!" I turned around and saw Juan walking up to me while clapping with kingdra floating by his side. How is he walking on the ice without slipping on it?

"It was fun." I admitted. "But if Bigblue cannot beat your kingdra, then no one else on my team can. Fuzzy isn't trained enough to take it on and Lily's biggest weakness is the cold. Sending them out will be for naught. The rest of my team that stood a chance against your kingdra had been taken out as well. It's your win. It truly was a splendid battle, thank you." I bowed in respect as I finished my speech. The battle I had with Juan was the most exciting one I had in a while (excluding Mossdeep, since I was asleep), and it opened my eyes to the many possibilities I can do with water type moves. I need to start brushing up on Bigblue's water type techniques as well so that we can get a decent standing in the upcoming Ever Grande Conference. He will be a force to be reckoned with if he can combine his water techniques together with his rock and ground type techniques. No, not just a force to be reckoned with. Bigblue will be a force of nature.

Juan smiled as he handed me the Rain Badge together with a TM.

"Usually TMs are only awarded as a reward by gym leaders to challengers that managed to beat them. However, considering it is Theo you went up against, your performance in our battle earned you the gift of this Water Pulse TM from me. You can call me if you have further questions about how to properly use this technique anytime in the future. I see why Wallace had such high praises of you now, Velda. You truly are a wonderful trainer for one so young." He stopped to take a short pause, before continuing. "It was the right decision to forfeit when you did. Your swampert is in no condition to battle any longer and your cradily and pachirisu would not have stood a chance against Theo. Part of being a trainer is to know when to give up and when to press on. You excelled in this regard."

"Wattson taught me that in our gym battle. I guess he was a good teacher." I took a look at Juan's kingdra, who looked a little tired but still fit for fighting. "Is your kingdra ok? I mean, Dolly did use a Curse on it. I don't think the effect has stopped yet. Won't it be better to return it to its pokeball?"

Juan laughed as he ushered me and Bigblue out of the frozen arena. "It's fine, your banette is strong, but that Curse isn't the strongest I have seen. It still needs further training if you wish for its Curse to show visible effects on pokemons of Theo's strength. You are on the right track, so keep it up. Your banette is probably the strongest trained banette I have seen so far, but then again maybe it's because it's rare for banettes to be raised in human captivity. They are not a popular choice among humans. But you are right, I should return Theo back to his pokeball just in case." Juan recalled his kingdra back to its pokeball and released a huge ludiculo, who danced on the spot the moment it was released.

"Now, I believe I owe you a demonstration on how my ludicolo can grow the grass back within the same time you take to make your tea. But first, we need to get rid of the ice, and get us some tea as well. How about some Earl Grey tea? I'm craving for some myself."

I nodded in agreement as we walked over to a tea table by the side of the arena. Vance had mentioned that Juan had made tea for him as well when he first challenged the gym circuit and it was the nicest tea he had ever drank.

I wonder if I can convince Juan to give me some of the tea leaves from his collection?

* * *

 **AN: Presenting to you the final gym battle in the Hoenn gym circuit. This will be the last chapter until my hiatus is over, and I hoped that the battle was exciting enough for you.**

 **Like I said in the previous chapter, THANK YOU for your continuous support in me and IJWTTTW thus far. I wasn't expecting the story to have more than 50 favourites and followers in less than a month since the first chapter was published. There are now 67 favourites and 71 followers at this very exact moment when I typed this. The next major arc in the story will be about the Ever Grande Conference which will be very challenging to write. I hoped that I can continue to bring you more exciting battles and interesting story lines through my writing, it was a very fun experience for me as well.**

 **I also saw some of the pokemon suggestions and I went to check on the pokedex entries and their movelist on Pokemon Database. Some of the suggestions were pretty good, but I haven't confirmed which one I wanted to add into Velda's team. At any rate, I think the suggestions from you guys were better than mine, and I was glad that I asked for your opinions.**

 **Last but not least, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter! We will meet again in a few months time!**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Pupitar (Kratos), male**

 **Juan, Age: ?, Male, Gym Leader of Sootopolis City**

 **1) Kingdra (Theo)**

 **2) Luvdisc**

 **3) Crawdaunt**

 **4) Walrein**

 **5) Whiscash**

 **6) Politoed**

 **7) Ludicolo**


	21. Chapter 21- Catching Arbok

Dad and I entered by the back door of our house and we were greeted by the wafting aroma of Mum's cooking. We were helping to feed the pokemons on our farm while Mum and Vance prepared breakfast. No matter what kind of delicacies I ate during my travels, nothing beats Mum's cooking. She's the best cook in the entire world.

"Oh, back already? Mum should be finishing with cooking the breakfast in about a minute or so."

Vance replied as he expertly set the table while balancing several plates on his hands and arms. Dad and I wisely took a few steps back. This is Vance we are talking about, the walking disaster of Petalburg. Vance scowled as he finished setting the table, clearly knowing the reason why we kept our distance from him.

"Hey, I know I'm a klutz, but do you guys have to make your distrust in me so obvious? I'm hurt."

"Well..." I drawled. "It's either your ego gets hurt or one of us gets hurt when something does happen. I think your ego can take a better beating than us, it's been hurt too many times already anyway, so it won't make much of a difference."

Two heads rubbed against my leg gently as they fought for my affection. I smiled as I patted both heads of the zweilous that Dad had decided to add to his team, even if he is no longer an active pokemon trainer.

We are all glad that Dad had finally decided to move on from the grief of losing most of his original team.

The zweilous, a deino back then, was found by Dad when he was doing business in Unova about three months ago. The deino was starving when Dad came across him by accident and Dad had to capture him in a pokeball so that he can transport him to the nearest pokemon center for treatment. The deino made a speedy recovery, but was unwilling to leave Dad's side when it was time for him to go back home. Dad was conflicted at first given his history with dragons and how it made him lose his team, but he could not bear to leave the deino alone when it looked at him with hopeful eyes. Fang and tropius had taken a liking to the little dragon during the short time they spend with him and encouraged Dad to bring deino back home.

That's how deino got included into our family.

Little deino was curious about everything although he was very timid initially, which is kind of weird given how infamous the temperament of their final form is. Deino was good for Dad and his presence rekindled a little of his passion in pokemon training. Mum absolutely adored deino too and often spoiled him with treats. It won't be good for deino to remain as a deino, however cute it is. Dragons need to grow properly by fighting and releasing their powers, and they cannot do so if they are being coddled. It's why they make such poor companion pokemons for an ordinary citizen but the perfect soldier for a trainer. Dragons that do not grow properly tend to become stress after a period of time and that outcome will not bode well for anyone. Dragons thrive in adversity, but such an environment cannot be found in our family's farm and Dad is too busy with work to train deino properly.

It was where I come in.

At that time I had just finished touring Pacifidlog and visiting some of the gym leaders in their various cities via flight through Snap or Toothless before returning home. Deino was scared of me at first, but little treats of food here and there soon opened him up to me. Dad told me of his concerns. I need to prepare for the upcoming conference anyway and training one more pokemon will not matter to me. He can be the perfect sparring partner for Fuzzy.

I had spent some time after my Sootopolis gym challenge to tour Pacifidlog and see if I can find the Sky Pillar. I had originally planned to stay in Pacifidlog for a week, but I had forgot to account for a factor.

I get seasick easily.

I should have remember the less than pleasant experience during my boat ride from Petalburg to Dewford and from there to Slateport but for some reason it slipped my mind. Pacifidlog is a town that is literally built on the sea itself. The very town floats on the ocean surface and stays in position by the heavy anchors the local populace used to make sure they don't drift elsewhere, it's the only town of its kind in the world. I got seasick within the first hour there and by the second hour, I decided that I had enough and quickly let Snap fly me to Slateport, the nearest city from Pacifidlog.

Too bad I cannot stay in Pacifidlog longer, they have a really nice view of Hoenn's ocean.

I spent some time flying around the various cities to visit some of the gym leaders for some battles and to get personal tips from them on how to handle and train pokemons of their type specialty. I had visited Winona and Flannery, whose tips were very helpful in regards to Toothless. I also visited Wattson, who was surprised at my ongoing attempt to make Fuzzy reach Elite level, but he stated that it is something worth striving for. He was helpful in explaining the mechanics of Magnet Rise to me and Fuzzy, and Fuzzy is now able to fly around effortlessly after months of training even if there is a limit to how long and how fast he can do it. He is nowhere as fast as Snap or Toothless in the air, but pachirisus aren't meant to fly in the first place.

Fuzzy is most probably the first pachirisu in existence to have flight capabilities. We totally deserve an award.

Still, Fuzzy's species is not known for being strong in combat and it showed during his training sessions with deino. Even if deino is inexperienced in combat he still hits a lot harder than Fuzzy does and is able to take a lot more punishment. Fuzzy is still able to defeat him, but after deino evolved, it gets exponentially harder for Fuzzy to beat zweilous in combat. Now, they are both about equal in strength, but it won't be long before zweilous will start to hit a growth spurt in power. Fuzzy won't be a challenge for him for much longer.

Now that zweilous had gained more power, Fang is able to help train and spar against him without any worry of accidentally killing him. Fang isn't exactly good at toning down the ferocity of his attacks and that is why Dad was against the idea of using Fang to help train zweilous when it was still a deino. The same goes for tropius. They may be very gentle usually but the same cannot be said the moment they entered combat. It will take a long time for zweilous to reach its final form. Another thing to note is that their species are also notorious for the amount of time needed for them to evolve into a hydreigon. In fact, their slow growth rate rivals that of the tyranitar species, and is why not many trainers are willing to invest the time needed to raise these creatures. To top it off, they are usually very vicious even to their trainers and had an even worse temper to anything else. There is a lot to be done for a trainer to gain its respect. The combination of dragon and dark typing do not make them the most sociable of pokemon. Zweilous here is an odd case, to be perfectly honest. His temperament is really mild, sometimes even milder than a poochyena and that is saying something. Dad had decided to name zweilous Chewy since he tends to tackle and bite at anything as a deino, a result of being blind at that stage of growth. It's how his species get a feel of their surroundings at that stage of their lives. It surprised everyone that Dad decided to give zweilous a nickname as we know he is the type of trainer who only gave his starter, Fang, a nickname. Dad offered tropius the choice of having a nickname as well on that day, but tropius had refused.

The name Chewy really reminded me of Chewbacca from Star Wars even if they are not even remotely alike.

And on the topic of the growth rate of the tyranitar and hydreigon species, I am pleased to announce that Kratos had finally reached the final stage of his evolution about a week ago. Kratos had grown really fast, which is the result for all the hard work he put in. For every 1% of effort my team puts into training, Kratos puts in 2%, and the results showed themselves when he finally evolved. Just in time for the upcoming conference too.

We are so going to wreck our competitors in the upcoming conference starting in about a month from now. The power spike he gained from his evolution is no joke. Kratos is even able to fight against Vance's salamence and hold his own for a long while, even if he lost in the end. I'm not going to use him until I see a worthy opponent for Kratos in the conference. He will be our team's ace in the hole. Kratos had gained quite an ego after evolving into a tyranitar and now only seek battles to those who can give him a challenging fight. I can't blame him for that, really. He is now the strongest member of my team and his control and mastery over rock type techniques surpass even those of Bigblue and Lily.

Kratos is an absolute menace to go against and I want to make that known to the entire region when he finally makes his appearance in the conference.

Our family sat down to eat our breakfast and some of our smaller pokemons that are able to fit in the house joined in as well. We made idle talks as we shared what had been going on in our lives recently. Vance is taking another short break from his ACE missions and he is sharing the funny things that he had experienced in there.

"-and Terror, the fucking idiot, had to go and blow up the entire-"

"Vance! Language! I taught you better than this, young man!" Mum scolded as she pointed her fork at him. "I understand if you swear in front of your friends during your missions but do not do it in the house, especially in front of your sister!"

I put on the best innocent look I am able to on my face to accentuate Mum's point. Vance sputtered but he pointed an accusing finger at me anyway.

"Mum! Vel swears even more than me sometimes!"

"That's obviously not true." I replied smoothly as I took a sip of coffee. "Macky can prove my case, isn't that right, Macky?"

Macky took a pause from eating his meal and gave an exaggerated nod. Vance had a look of horror at the act of betrayal of his starter and I tried my best not to laugh out loud. Dad wisely hid his face from view as he pretended to read the newspaper, but I can see the slight trembling of his shoulders as he repressed his desire to snicker.

Ignoring Vance's mortified face I continued to speak.

"I will be going out later today. I am meeting a friend over lunch but I will be back before dinner."

"I see, have fun then." Dad replied as he finally revealed his face from behind the newspaper, his face the very picture of serenity despite me knowing how he must be dying to laugh from our little act earlier.

"You have a social life?" Vance questioned as he helped himself to a huge serving of bread and bacon.

"Yes. Unlike you, I have a social life outside ACE missions and Flannery."

Vance sputtered even harder and this time, it got my parents' attention as his face turned redder than Flamel's flames.

"I'm full." I said as I got up from my seat and took my plate with me to the kitchen sink. Time to leave the living room which will soon turn into an interrogation chamber. I have no problems throwing Vance under the bus in this kind of scenarios. Besides, Vance and Flannery are so cute together. Dad and Mum will love her, especially Mum. I have no idea that my brother and Flannery are a thing until I accidentally caught Flannery making a private call during the stay of my visit with her. She had put the phone on speaker as her hands were full trying to help scrub her torkoal's shell clean. Imagine my surprise when I heard Vance's voice on the other end of the phone.

Perfect blackmail material.

Vance had called and pleaded me to help keep a secret from our parents for the time being as they only just got together. I had extorted many promises of benefits from him although I made no real moves to claim them. He should be glad that I kept their relationship a secret for as long as I did.

Ah well, let's leave my family alone for a little while. I foresee that they will be a little busy for the next hour or so trying to grill the details out of Vance. I felt my shadows moved and I discreetly passed a pecha berry from the kitchen's cupboard into Macky's waiting paws, a reward for him taking my side in the conversation earlier. Macky let out a giggle and disappeared with his treat. Rena sighed but didn't say anything. Kel just seemed unbothered while Fuzzy continued to munch on the remainder of his breakfast before giving a squeak when he is done.

Hmm... I have about two hours or so before I'm scheduled to meet him. Might as well get started on the newest novel I bought from the bookstore. Liza had stated that it was a good read. My pokemon seemed to feel a little lazy today as well if Fuzzy's drooping eyes are any indication. I think he had just entered the beginning stages of a food coma. They don't feel like they want to train today.

Reading it is then.

* * *

"Hey Vel! Guess what! I-"

Vance pushed opened the door to Velda's room unannounced but whatever he was saying was cut short as he saw the state of undress his sister was in. She is standing in front of the mirror near her wardrobe in only her panties as clothes were strewn about the bed behind her. She was obviously contemplating what to wear when she visits her friend later for lunch. Her sister had started to undergo puberty a few months back and her growth spurt is obvious, especially her chest, so suddenly seeing her naked is a little... weird. Vance suddenly realised that Velda is no longer the little girl that used to follow him around.

She is growing up.

"Uh... I will..." Vance slowly made a motion to leave her room and close the door behind him. Velda's glare looked like it can freeze the entire region and he really do not want to risk her wrath right now.

Too late.

A short burst of controlled psychic powers from Rena had Vance thrown out of Velda's room and the door slammed shut with force that seemed to shake the entire house. Macky's howling laughter can be heard even though he cannot be seen. Vance groaned as he get himself off the floor. Rena wasn't exactly very gentle with him.

"What did you do this time?"

Hanna questioned her son the moment he appeared back in the living room. Griff was typing something on his laptop and he also stopped to listen to what Vance is going to say.

"I may...uh..."

"He just entered my room without knocking. I was changing my clothes when he entered."

Vance jumped at Velda's words, who had somehow sneaked up to his back unaware. Velda looked cross as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. Vance took the chance to see what his sister had chosen to wear. Velda is wearing a one-piece sleeveless maroon dress that he was sure he bought for her about a year ago at Slateport. It is nothing formal, but not overly casual either. Velda loves wearing dresses whenever she's not out in the wilderness, but she rarely wore this out because she treasured it so much. Usually she only wore something like this if their family was visiting someone or if they know someone will be visiting their house for a formal visit.

"Didn't anyone teach you to _knock_ before entering? Especially before entering a lady's room?"

Griff merely shake his head before returning to do whatever he was doing and Hanna pinched Vance's ear in a death grip as she dragged him away for another round of lecture, ignoring Vance's protest of pain.

"Bye Dad." Velda said as both father and daughter ignored Hanna scolding Vance in the background, who is cowering in fear at how his mother tear into him mercilessly with words. They had a brief hug before Rena strode back into the house with numerous pokeballs floating alongside her, which Velda received and put them somewhere accessible on her person.

"Have fun." Griff replied as he patted Velda on the head dotingly. "Do I have to be worried about boys anytime soon?" He teased.

"I am meeting a boy, but it is not anything you are insinuating." Velda replied absentmindedly as she moved towards the front door to put on her shoes. "He told me he will be passing by Petalburg and so we decided to meet up. He's been very helpful in giving me tips on how to train Rena's psychic powers." Velda stood up straight as she waved back at her family in farewell before releasing Flamel the moment she got out of the front door, totally oblivious at how Griff and Vance now stood in silent shock and frozen at where they are currently standing. Vel jumped onto Flamel's back in one swift motion and they watched her as she disappeared around the corner with her pokemons and out of sight.

"Hello? Earth to Griff and Vance?"

Hanna waved a hand in front of her husband's face while Macky took the chance to smack his trainer at the back of his head, eliciting a pained cry from him. It did broke them out of their stupor.

"Come to think of it, I had never seen Vel dressed up so nicely before." Vance muttered as he adopted a thinking pose and his eyes narrowed.

"Vel almost never dressed up for anything." Griff agreed with his son's opinion as Fang walked to his side, tongue rolling out of his mouth playfully. "She never fails to dress fashionably, but never will she take the extra time to dress up unless it's necessary. She's the most practical person in the entire house. Unless..."

"She said she was meeting a boy. Could it be..."

"Now look here. The both of you." Hanna said as she rolled up a newspaper and bonked both father and son on the head. "Velda can meet whoever she wants as long as they are her friend. I know both of you are protective of her especially when it comes to boys, but she's old enough to be making her own decisions. She's nearly thirteen!"

"But Mum." Vance said as the serious persona from his ACE identity started to surface. "Vel is meeting a _boy_. She _dressed up_ to meet a boy."

"I didn't stop you from seeing Flannery either, didn't I? Speaking of her, when are you going to invite her over?"

"This bears investigation, dear." Griff said as he closed his laptop in a deceptively calm manner and took the hat from the clothestand nearby and wear it on top of his head. "This is our little baby girl that we are talking about. And if any boy dares to, Arceus forbid, hurt her..."

Vance's gallade appeared at the same moment with the pokeballs containing the rest of his team. Both Griff and Vance exchanged a look that seemed to convey thousands of words in a single glance as they both strode through the front door with purpose, gallade and Fang behind them as Macky's cackling trailed along. Hanna sighed and returned to sort through the list of goods the farm is scheduled to purchase for the next month. Holly floated beside her and placed a reassuring hand on her trainer's shoulder.

"I swear, sometimes it feels as if only the women of this house are the sane ones." Hanna muttered under her breath just enough for her companion to hear and she can feel her partner's amusement through the telepathic link they shared. "You will expect Griff to be the reasonable one here, but the moment Vel is involved, all form of common sense seemed to be eaten up by a horde of gyarados."

Chewy, who was resting by her feet, perked up at the mention of food as Hanna absentmindedly scratched the area between the neck and the back of their heads with one hand, making sure to give equal affection to both heads lest they get jealous with each other.

"Like father, like son."

* * *

 _'Mistress. They have been following us for a while now.'_

 _'I know, just let them be. They are just being irrational. We will lose them soon enough.'_

 _'If you say so.'_

Fuzzy snickered from where he is perched on my shoulder and Kel rolled her eyes. Rena had gotten good enough with her psychic powers to maintain a two way link between me and several members of my team. She is still unable to extend her reach to encompass the entire team, but she will get there soon enough. I still cannot understand what the rest of my pokemons who are connected to me via the telepathic link is trying to tell me though, it comes out as a muddled heap of jumbled thoughts and words. I guessed that it may be due to how different humans and pokemons think, and that only psychics have a sophisticated enough mind to constantly switch between the thinkings of both humans and pokemons and are thus able to converse with us. I can sense the emotions of what my pokemons is feeling with the two way link if they are connected to me mentally via Rena, although it was disorienting at first feeling several emotions at once from different members of my team.

I signaled Flamel to stop when we reached our destination and I jumped down from his back. Flamel gestured for me to return him to his pokeball, he doesn't like the smell of this place. I run my hands along his neck fondly as a show of affection before I recalled him and entered the rustic cafe which I would be meeting my friend here. Kel and Rena followed after me and Fuzzy remained content in his position on my shoulder.

I spotted Tate the moment I walked into the cafe.

"Tate!"

I greeted enthusiastically and immediately plopped myself down on the seat opposite him. Tate returned a small smile at me.

"Hello, Vel. How have you been?"

"You know, the usual. Training and stuffs." I said as we both took a look at the menu to see what they have to offer. Kel and Rena made themselves comfortable on the floor beside me and Fuzzy jumped down onto the table top and chattered excitedly to Tate's chimecho who is floating beside him. "How about you and Liza?"

"You know, the usual. Training and stuffs." Tate imitated my earlier tone which earned him a roll of my eyes. "Liza wanted to come along but it's her turn to get stuck with gym leader's duties this month. She wasn't very happy about it."

"Tell me all about it. She was on the phone for two hours yesterday night just to complain about it." I replied as we wrote down our orders and handed it to a waiter nearby. "What are you doing here in Petalburg anyway, if you don't mind me asking? Or is it some super confidential league stuffs?"

"I'm afraid so." Tate admitted as the waiter returned with our drinks for both us and our pokemons. Fuzzy greedily drank the sweet berry juice, unlike Rena and Kel who took sips from their bowls with more grace. I saw a tendril of my shadow sneaking up out of Tate's sight to stealthily steal a biscuit when his attention was on me. Dolly have been around Macky for way too much. "I need to meet with Norman personally for some league related issues, that's all I'm able to tell you. Sorry about that."

"It's fine, I understand. My brother is in ACE and he goes off on these kind of missions all the time." I waved off Tate's concern. "I'm just glad you remembered to visit me when you dropped by Petalburg."

"Of course I will." Tate retorted before he lowered his voice into a whisper while pretending nothing is wrong. "By the way, do you know that there are two people following you? I sensed them tailing you ever since I picked up on your psychic signature. They are behind the building across the cafe over there, no doubt watching us."

Dad and Vance sure failed at being subtle, don't they?

"It's just my Dad and brother being overly paranoid about me meeting a guy my age, don't worry about it. They are not as subtle as they think they are. Rena sensed them even before we reached here. They can be very protective of me, which is sweet of them, but they need to realise that I am growing up."

"I can tell." Tate said in his usual dry voice when he turned sarcastic or if he went into 'I can tell, captain obvious' mode. "My parents are the same for Liza, but she scares off any boys that got too near to her simply by being her."

"Are you sure that you had no part in it?" I teased. I know how older brothers tend to think and act around their sisters, I have one after all.

A solid and resolute "No" was Tate's reply but his body language gave him away. I pretended not to see through his denial, it's more amusing that way as I watch him squirm uncomfortably under my questioning gaze.

This is going to be such a fun afternoon.

* * *

"Can you get a visual?"

"Negative, Dad. My vision of the target is being blocked by Vel's body and that window is the only window that I can use to spy on them. How about you?"

"Negative as well, my vantage point is too unsuitable for further observation. Any closer and my position will be exposed. We have no choice but to wait."

Vance lowered his binoculars as the distance between Vance's eyebrows narrowed slightly. He ran through the possible options in his mind that could possibly help them find out the identity of the mystery guy that his little baby sister is meeting. This adversity is good. He chose a spot where he can easily observe anything outside while making it hard for anyone else to observe him simply by having Velda sit opposite him, effectively preventing anyone else from getting a good view of him. There is only one window that is suited for them to observe Velda and their target from afar. The only other possible way was to walk in through the doors of the cafe but Velda would not be pleased if she found out that they had been tailing her. She was already furious at him for walking into her room while she was changing. If she found out about him and Dad tailing her, she would undoubtedly sic a very gleeful Kratos on him in addition to bribing Macky with pecha berries to make his life miserable for an entire week. The traitorous ghost had never been on his side if Velda is involved.

Both Vance and Griff put on some simple disguise as they walked through town while tailing after Velda, their ACE training kicking in full gear as they used whatever knowledge they learnt from their time there to help in their endeavour to protect the youngest of their family from the shadows. It's frustrating, that no matter how they tried, they can't seem to get a clue on who this mystery person is. What kind of guy is Velda interested in anyway? Just who managed to catch her attention? Is that guy a sporty type? Or a bookish type? Maybe someone who had bested Vel in a pokemon battle?

Vance's earphones sounded with his Dad's voice again as they communicated through phone call in real time, leaving their call open without ending it so that it works like a handheld walkie talkie.

"Heads up, the target is making a move to leave together with Vel. I will circle around to the back door just in case, you watch the front."

"Roger that."

Vance looked through his binoculars once more and continue in his attempts at spying. He still cannot get a good enough visual. A chimecho just happen to levitate and position himself in such a way that it blocked his view of the guy's face and Vel is beside him, blocking his view of the guy's body. All he can tell is that the mystery guy is only slightly taller than Velda by about a head.

The both of them turned and disappeared out of sight as they walked further into the cafe.

"Dad, they are leaving by the back door."

"Roger. I'm in position. The target cannot hide himself this time. My vantage point is perfect from here."

Both father and son waited in the hot and cruel sun for another fifteen minutes before they realised that something is wrong.

"Dad? You see them?"

"They haven't exit the building yet. Maybe they went to visit the restroom?"

"It's been fifteen minutes. Requesting permission to switch to infiltration tactics."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line.

"Permission granted. Be careful not to get spotted."

Using the years of experience he had under his belt and squeezing every drop of knowledge about infiltration tactics Vance strolled into the cafe and looked every part of another customer. He politely waved off the approaching waiter and his eyes quickly scanned the small cafe for any signs of Velda and her 'friend'.

There were none.

He quickly walked towards the back of the cafe where he had saw them disappeared to and checked the restroom along the way. It is a simple cubicle shared by both genders and only one person can be in it at any one time. It is empty.

Shit, the both of them had given them the slip somehow.

Vance hurriedly exit through the back door and talked to Griff.

"Vel and the target disappeared! They had given us the slip somehow. I suspect a possible usage of teleport."

Vance heard his Dad swore under his breath. It is obvious that they had committed an amateur mistake. They are experienced ACE operatives who are fully trained and one of the top fighters of their generation! How did they not take into account the possibility of teleportation?!

Vance saw his father walking up to him with a concerned expression.

"Call Vel to ask her where she is." Griff spoke in a commanding tone that brook no argument. "She may be mad at us later, but better safe than sorry."

Vance was conflicted for a split second, but ultimately decided that he rather sacrifice himself for the greater good if it meant that his little sister is safe.

The call was soon picked up after a few seconds, but the person at the other end of the line is someone which they will never expect.

"Hello?"

" _Mum?!_ "

"Yes, it's me." The voice of Hanna spoke over the phone. "Vel just returned home about fifteen minutes ago and is now helping me outside in the farm _under the hot sun_ while I'm stuck at home helping your Dad sort through the paperwork. Tell him that if he does not get back here in a minute he will be sleeping on the couch for the entire month. And you, young man, will have something very _fun_ to do as well."

With the reflexes that only a highly experienced ACE operative can manage, Vance ended the call while simultaneously calling out his gallade and mentally commanded him to take him and his Dad back home straightaway via teleportation. They appeared in a pop in their living room just as Velda entered through the back door, carrying a crate of pokemon eggs and raising a questioning eyebrow at them. She is still wearing the same maroon dress she wore out earlier.

"Where have you guys been to? Do you know how hard it is for Mum to do all these alone?"

"Uh... Well... You see, there was... um..."

"Fang had gotten wind that there might be a problematic arbok lurking in the area." Griff said smoothly to cut Vance off and preventing him from exposing what they had been _really_ doing. "You know how they love to steal and eat pokemon eggs. So we need to hunt it down, find its nest, chase it out, stuffs like that. You know it." Griff said while gesturing with his arms. "Gave us the slip though."

"An arbok."

"Yes, an arbok." Griff nodded his head in confirmation and subtly elbowed Vance to get him to play along.

"In Hoenn."

"Must have swam its way here somehow." Vance shrugged as he tried his best to act all nonchalant about it.

"Disregarding the impossibility of that given how far Hoenn and Kanto are geographically apart from each other, somehow an ex-ACE operative, together with the current second-in-command of an ACE company, is unable to catch it." Velda continued as she put the crate down, pointing to each of them in turn while she listed off the flaws in their explanation.

"We suspect it may have a companion that knows Teleport. It just disappeared into thin air. We almost had it too."

"Both of you have _dark_ types. And nothing gets away from Fang's nose."

Fang gave a bark of agreement from beside his trainer.

"Must be a very talented psychic companion." Griff said as he removed his hat and placed it on the clothestand. "Might explain how the arbok got here in the first place."

"When did you reach home?" Vance said as he tried to divert Velda's attention away. Velda gave them a look of disbelief for the explanation they gave, but didn't press on as she handed the crate of pokemon eggs over to Vance.

"About 15 minutes ago. My friend teleported me back home and dropped me at the front door since it's too hot to be walking around in this weather. He's sweet like that." Velda said as she passed by them to help Hanna, who had walked into the living room carrying a huge stack of papers with Holly.

"Oh, who is he?" Vance asked and he can see his dad's ear perking up subtly to gain any insight on the mystery person their little baby girl was meeting.

"If you two have so much free time on your hands." Hanna stormed over to dump a stack of papers into her husband's arms and Vance quickly scurried away with the crate of pokemon eggs towards the hatchery to escape the impending wrath of the matriarch of the house. "Then surely you can help with this."

Griff made the correct choice when he walked towards the dining table to put down the stack of papers and started to go through them under his wife's scrutinising gaze. As a result, both he and Vance missed how Velda and Hanna exchanged knowing smirks and high-fived each other behind their backs.

Griff grumbled in the safe confines of his mind. Now he won't be able to sleep peacefully for the next few days. Just who had been seeing his little baby girl?

* * *

 **AN: I wasn't planning to write anything for this story until my semester is over, but I have some time on my hands now since it is the start of my recess week and some of you guys were asking for more interactions between the members of the Vera family. I think I deserve a break from the hell known as school. I had read the previous chapters of this story and I cringed so hard at the number of grammatical mistakes. I think I had improved though after writing another two Fairy Tail stories (check out my profile if you are interested) although this problem will likely never truly disappear. English had never been my strong suit.**

 **You guys have Gildenth and his story, Dreaming of Family, to thank for the appearance of this chapter. I had just found his story recently and I got hooked at how he writes about the world of pokemon, although it is mainly his (I assume he's a male from the username) plot that had me gripped. Admittedly, it's not the best story I have read about pokemon, but it is still very interesting regardless. From what I can see, he actually produced 15 chapters in about 10 days? Wow. 193k words in total too. That beat even my record when I first started writing IJWTTW and I thought I was hardcore back then. I wish I could write as fast as him.**

 **It was when I was reading his story that I found the motivation to get off my lazy ass and write something for IJWTTTW. His story gave me the much needed inspiration and rekindled the love I have for my very first story I have ever written. So here's a special shoutout to him. If you enjoyed reading his story as well, do support him. It's not easy for him trying to write something of such a large scale, really.**

 **The next arc is the Pokemon League arc. I have some ideas in mind on what kind of pokemons Velda will be facing, but I want YOU to tell me on what kinds of pokemons you want her to face. I cannot promise you that I will use all of your suggestions since I have some ideas already in place, and some pokemon are simply hard to write due to their limited movepool (*Winona's battle* *cough*), but I will take your suggestions into consideration. You can for example, suggest Vel to face a Poison Specialist and list out the poison types you want to see her fight against. A generalist works too. Just keep in mind not to suggest too many OP pokemon that are overused in FF since it will be boring, everyone will know what to expect. If possible, try to think of powerful but underused pokemon that are often overshadowed by the more popular ones. That will be fun to write about.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter. I will try to start on IJWTTTW again when I'm able, but things have been very hectic for me. Things will only get busier. There will be noticeably slower updates on my stories except for RC since I had already written everything out, I just need time to edit the remaining chapters and then post it.**

 **Until then, ciao!**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Zweilous (Chewy), male**

 **4) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **5) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **6) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **7) Ursaring (deceased)**


	22. Chapter 22- Ever Grande Conference

_Knock Knock_

"Enter."

Wallace pushed open the door to the office of the current Hoenn president, Lucas Foster, and saw the middle-aged man who is also one of the most influential figures in Hoenn going through a file. President Foster looked up, and with a warm smile that would have deceived many others that don't know him well, gestured for Wallace to take a seat.

Wallace had never liked this man. While the things he did so far had ensured Hoenn's continued prosperity, some of the methods he employed were questionable at best. There is a clear distinction in the division of powers between the Pokemon League Champion and the President of the Hoenn region. Wallace is mainly in charge of the military might of Hoenn and most pokemon-related issues, the government that President Lucas is in charge of takes care of the rest. The only grey area is the issue of security and defense, since both governing bodies have their own responsibilities that contributed to this matter and matters of securities cannot be decided by only one of the aforementioned governing body without the other. Other than that, they cannot meddle with the governing body that they are respectively in charge of unless it is with very good reasons. Wallace can only advise President Lucas on certain issues and the same applies to the President. There are affairs other than security that requires both the government and the league to work hand-in-hand, but behind the scenes how the affairs are being handled is usually a mess.

Wallace have no idea what the topic of discussion is today, but he can already foresee a headache brewing.

"President Lucas."

"Wallace. How's your day?"

"I am fine." Wallace responded politely. "However, I must ask you to get to the crux of the discussion today. I'm afraid we are both busy people."

"Ah, the woes of being a leader." President Lucas chuckled before handing over a file to Wallace. Wallace skimmed through the information on the file and he can feel the annoyance he felt towards the President rising.

 _Rapidly._

"If I may ask, what is the meaning of this?"

"Why, I thought this would be obvious? It is a list of promising trainers that we have picked out. All of them are participants in the upcoming conference and unemployed by the league yet."

"You know full well that this is not within your jurisdiction. Only the LSDF answers to you due to the nature of their work, and even then any major changes or any interference by the government have to be first vetted by me. The Rangers and ACE are under the league, not the government. You have no right to-" Wallace threw down the file onto the President's table with a loud bang. "-recruit these so called 'potential recruits'. That's my job, not yours."

President Lucas looked totally unbothered as he merely picked up the opened file again and turned it in Wallace's direction.

"Under these troubled times, I'm afraid there will be times like these where our authorities have to intersect with each other. I gave you full reign during the Magma and Aqua crisis, no? We need to have more trust in each other, Wallace. While you are right in saying that I have no right in searching for trainers who had shown potential and recruit them into the league's forces, in the end, what I am doing makes your job easier and Hoenn safer in the long run. You cannot deny that. The public's faith in us is already on the rocks due to the invasion on Lilycove. We need to restore their faith in us. The invasion had shown us that we are lacking in talented trainers in our forces given how thinly stretched our forces are when we are rooting them out, the first step will be to bolster our military strength. For that, we need more talent. We need your cooperation, Wallace."

"Such honeyed words." Wallace said in sarcasm. "Are you sure you have nothing to benefit from it?"

"Well, I do want to continue serving Hoenn the best I can. I can't do that if I am kicked out of office, can I?"

At least he is being brutally honest this time, Wallace will give him that. What the President is playing at is probably to appease the public's outrage that stemmed from the invasion on Lilycove, and him making an obvious show in implementing new policies to show the public that the government is taking steps to ensure the citizens' protection is one way to do it. The list of trainers the President had showed Wallace are promising talents. Among them, there is even one that will very likely be able to follow in his and Steven's footsteps if she ever gets the motivation to strive to be the best. That trainer's name is on the top of that list, and is what made Wallace so furious since he knew her personally. Hoenn is in her debt, and yet this cunning man is trying to get his dirty paws on her. Wallace knew of her dream and he respect her wishes. Whatever endgame the President is playing at, it cannot be good for her.

The President merely tap his finger on the name at the top of the list, which is also circled in red ink with the particulars of that trainer printed on the file.

Velda Vera.

"I heard you know this trainer personally. In fact, her brother is your direct subordinate. Tell me more about her."

"She is from the _Vera_ family." Wallace hissed. "Don't play with fire, you will only get yourself burnt."

President Lucas waved Wallace's warning off.

"Their family have dwindled to only four people. Yes, they are an ancient and noble family since the founding of our region. Yes, they have some political weight as well even if they are not actively involved in politics. Yes, I know that they have been playing a vital role in our military strength and that angering them is not the wisest decision at first glance. But as I have said, they are a family with only four people left. If the worse comes to worst, we can always forcefully suppress them politically and they cannot do anything. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"You-!"

"Look at her achievements." President Lucas continued without paying any attention to Wallace as he went read the file. "She had beaten every single gym challenge on her first try and won six out of her eight gym leader battles, one of which is against Tate and Liza, who had used two members from their main team. The only reason why she lost the other two gym leader battles is because Winona and Juan battled her in a capacity near their full strength. She was first noticed by Roxanne by her outstanding performance and was exempted from the trainer's school. She even caught _Norman's_ eye and he himself trained her personally for approximately eight months. She's not even thirteen yet, younger than when Steven first made his debut. She have personal ties to every single gym leader in Hoenn. Which other trainer her age can boast about that? She's a talent, a shining star." President Lucas looked back up at Wallace.

"Hoenn needs her. We need someone from the next generation who is capable of protecting our land and thwarting criminal organisations, someone who can inspire future generations. Even at her young age, she had already contributed so much to Hoenn considering what she did to bring down the Magmas and the Aquas."

Wallace stood up and slammed his palms on the table as he leaned forward to face the President, who remained unfazed and met Wallace's narrowed eyes.

"How." Wallace gritted out. "Did you know about that. Only a select few from the league who I trust knows about what she did, I did _not_ tell anyone from the government."

"I have my ways, Wallace. As President, I need to know what will possibly threaten my motherland. It's not nice to keep something so important from me, you know? We need to learn how to work with each other."

"Who is to say you won't use these information to further your own agenda." Wallace said as a look of anger was worn on his usually serene face. "And how much do you know?"

"I know enough." The President replied as he leaned back and poured a cup of tea for the both of them and handed Wallace a cup. Wallace ignored it. The President took his own cup and he sipped contently on the hot beverage. "Don't worry, even I did not manage to find out where you hid the orbs away and I want no part in that particular matter either. It's not my area of expertise, I am not a trainer. I know when to back off."

"You better do."

"Back on the matter regarding Velda Vera-"

"Don't." Wallace said as he stood straight up. "Even _think_ about it."

"-I was thinking of releasing the news of her contributions to the public. It will help quell the public's anger quite a bit, don't you think?"

"Are you even listening to what you are saying?! You will be painting a huge target on her back! The Magmas and Aquas remnants will go after her like carvanhas to their prey! Velda is just a _child_. A child who is ridden with sickness since birth and her only dream is to travel the world! You want to make her the next Steven Stone, but there's no point in forcing someone who has no desire to serve in such positions!"

"But that is such a waste of talent, is it not? Sure, I know she has always been sickly, but there are many ways she can help contribute to our region regardless. She is just too valuable. Such a talent only comes once in every few generations. We are blessed that we have you and Steven, and now she comes along. A _Generalist_. You know better than me how rare a talented Generalist is. She is someone who might grow to be as powerful as Cynthia of Sinnoh. With the three of you, Hoenn will be the top region in the world."

"Just what exactly are you planning?"

"Only for the best of our homeland. That's all I want."

Wallace clenched his fists as he restrained himself from punching the man this very instant. Wallace knows President Lucas is loyal to Hoenn, loyal to a fault even, but his convoluted ways in protecting Hoenn and how he justified his actions can be sickening.

"The revelation of Velda's contributions will help quell the public's dissatisfaction at the government and the league. She will be your new poster girl, the future of Hoenn, a possible candidate for the next Champion in line after Steven. You want to paint a target on Velda's back so she will have no choice but to join the league forces for her own safety. You get publicity while also appeasing the public and you get a talented trainer into our ranks at the same time. What a nice setup, but that's not the full picture you are painting, am I right?"

"Well, that's what you say, not me. When you put it this way, it does make me look like a scheming man."

"I will not allow it."

"Then give me a better idea to calm the masses. Or apprehend Courtney and Shelly who is still out there on the loose doing who knows what. Give me something that can help me to do my job easier. From what we know, Tabitha and Shelly are now the most dangerous criminals out there in our lands after we apprehended Maxie and Archie and we still cannot find hide nor hair about where they are and what they are planning. Their ideologies are dangerous. For all we know, they might be planning to sabotage the upcoming conference, which happens to be the biggest one we are holding in recent years. If the Magma or Aqua remnants do something similar to Lilycove just _one more time_ , the entire region will revolt. There will be mass panic and there will be chaos and that's the last thing we need right now. We need to do _something_ to restore the public's confidence in us. Having many talented trainers joining our ranks can do that among many other things that I have planned out to salvage the situation. Having Velda Vera joining us is just another huge bonus."

"We _will_ find the remnants, that is the league's job in the first place. But leave the trainers out of this. If they want to join, they will join willingly on their own accord."

"What do you think I am? A ruthless dictator? Of course they will have the free will to choose and decide whether they want to join the league's ranks. I have full confidence that most of them, if not all of them, will join our ranks. With a little _persuading_ , of course. Can't leave out the mandatory recruitment talk, can we?"

Wallace turned around to leave the room. There is no point in continuing this conversation anymore.

"Wallace." Wallace stopped and turned back a little to face the President, who is now resting his chin on the back of his hands with the table as support.

"Whatever is discussed today in this room, stays in this room. Velda _will_ join the league forces. If you are not doing it, I am, one way or another. She is too valuable an asset to be left alone wandering around or wasting her time running a pokemon breeding farm no matter how important that farm is to us. Don't use her sickness as an excuse, we can always make exceptions or special arrangements for her to deal with her condition. Regardless of what you think, I am not a heartless monster. We are the leaders that lead other leaders, Wallace. The fate and safety of Hoenn lies upon our shoulders. Every single decision we made, every single policy we authorised is done with the knowledge that it is the best we can do right now to guarantee Hoenn's continued survival. Peace have been maintained across the world via the PWL for centuries, but we both know how fragile that peace truly is behind the beautiful facade. We need to prepare for every single possibility, including a possibility of war against the other regions no matter how unlikely it seems now. We know that much the moment we took on the mantle of the Champion and President." President Lucas gave a sigh before continuing. "Sometimes, individual sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. We both know this. You did good in choosing Steven as your successor, but I don't think he realised what it really means to be a Champion yet. He's still too naive. I have faith he will grow up and fill the shoes you leave behind when you resign from your position in a few years time, but we also need to plan for the future after Steven. It's best to start now. You have Steven to take over you, but what about me?" President Lucas ran his hand across his face tiredly, a look of fatigue washing across his face. "I still haven't find a successor who I can entrust Hoenn to. Until I do so, I need to be in this position so that at least I can continue to protect Hoenn the only way I know how. Trust me, if I can find someone who can do a better job than me, I will resign from my position in a heartbeat. Sadly, none of my trusted subordinates are people who are suited for the job of President, even _you_ agree with me on this. I know we don't always get along with each other, but at least trust me when I say that I truly love Hoenn. I want to do my best to ensure that Hoenn will continue to enjoy peace and stability for at least a few more centuries. Right now, our military might is at an all time low and the best we can do is to compensate quantity for quality. At least we now know that we are heading in the right direction since none of your ACE operatives perished on their missions to exterminate the Magmas and Aquas, so that is a consolation for us. Roxanne's efforts in her pokemon schools project will help tremendously in improving the quality of our trainers, but the downside is that we will not see results immediately. It will take at least another decade for it to bear any fruit. Our region now only has two Pokemon Masters, you and Drake. Steven might become one, but we won't know for sure yet. Between you and Drake, you are at your prime while Drake is old. You will be the only Pokemon Master left in Hoenn if anything untoward happens to him. Can you see my concerns now?"

"I will find another way."

"Three months." President Lucas relented. "If you can do something tangible to alleviate my concerns regarding the issues we discussed today, I will keep my hands to where they should belong. I don't particularly enjoy doing this either, it's not a nice feeling playing the role of the villain but something needs to be done. Remember, tangible results, Wallace. I don't want empty promises or half-cooked plans that might or might not work. If you cannot solve the problems that is currently plaguing Hoenn, I will step in. That's all I want to say today. I know that you love Hoenn as much as I do and you have always taken your job very seriously despite the disagreements we have. Please understand where I am coming from. The peace that Hoenn is experiencing now is too fragile with the way the public currently is and how the Magma and Aqua remnants are still around and biding their time. I have no doubt you will do your best, but even the league that you are a part of have their own limitations. If you ever need my help within these three months, or even in the future, my doors will always be open to you as long as I am here."

Wallace opened the door to walk through it, but stopped briefly to reply without turning back.

"I will take your words into consideration, but I will protect Hoenn _my_ way."

"Three months, Wallace."

The door slammed shut.

* * *

"-the Ghost Mistress-"

"Did she really-"

"-I heard she won all five-"

"-only with one pokemon? _That_ one?"

I continued walking through the building while trying my best not to give a shit-eating grin. Fuzzy have no such considerations as he snickered mischievously from where he is on my shoulder. Dolly simply gave a ghostly giggle to unnerve everyone around us as she allowed me to carry her around in my arms like a doll. Everyone around us gave us a wide berth as we strolled through. Dolly is enjoying this and so am I.

The 528th Ever Grande Conference that I had been eagerly waiting for had finally started. This conference is one of the largest to be ever hosted in recent years, with the total number of participants tallying up to approximately 400 trainers this year. Many trainers from the other regions (except for Orre who is still uncharted territory and no one else knows what is exactly going on in there) had entered as well, and these foreign trainers are usually Elite trainers who had come here to challenge and experience the Hoenn gym circuit. From what I see, the league are pulling out all the stops to make this conference a successful one to erase any bad memories regarding the invasion on Lilycove that happened about six months ago.

Yeah, I don't want to dwell on that either.

The Ever Grande Conference, like its name suggested, is being held in Ever Grande City. The city is both beautiful and majestic and my fighting spirit has been roused just by being in the city at this time of the year. There are many merchandises being sold by businesses who wants to use this annual opportunity to make a killing. The amount of tourists the Ever Grande Conference attracts to Hoenn and to Ever Grande City each year is staggering, and that is not taking into the account the amount of viewers who will be watching the matches from their TVs.

Given the huge number of trainers that had applied to take part in this year's conference, the League Competition Committee, a committee from the PWL whose sole purpose is to monitor the annual regional leagues from their member regions and ensure that no foul play is involved for the entire duration, had put in place the preliminaries to eliminate the weaker participants so that the stronger ones can progress. The entire conference will take too long to complete otherwise. The preliminaries is more or less like a lottery system where every trainer is randomly being pitted against another trainer. The committee tries to make it as fair as possible in the number of preliminary matches each trainer have to go through, but there will be trainers who will have to go through an extra round or two given that the total number of trainers who needs to take part in the preliminaries is an odd number. I cannot remember the exact number since I never cared about it. I crushed any opposition with Dolly by my side.

Elite trainers, no matter which region they hailed from, are exempted from the preliminaries and are automatically given a spot in the top 256. It will not be fair to the first timers if the Elite trainers participated in the preliminaries as well even though there will always be a few talented ones like Steven Stone or my brother among them every year who managed to reach at least top 8 on their first try. The remaining pool of trainers who are competing for their first time will fight it out in the preliminaries until all the top 256 positions are filled. I have to go through five rounds of preliminary matches myself.

I won it all with Dolly alone and we did it effortlessly. I'm proud of her.

The number of pokemons, the type specialty that you are versed in, and the species of pokemons that each trainer used is a closely guarded secret in the competition. No items are allowed in the battles either. Every single match is recorded and can be viewed on the league's official webpage after the matches of the day are over. The profile of each trainer for this conference is updated after every match to show the pokemons that each trainer had used for each battle. For me, since I had only used Dolly for my matches, my profile will only show a banette as the pokemon I have on hand if anyone searched for it. The rest of my team are unknown as far as my competitors are concerned. The lesser members of your team you show early on in the conference, the more surprises you have in the later stages since no one will know what to expect.

To save time, the preliminary matches only allowed each trainer to use one pokemon. It's kind of scary that the one pokemon you chose to battle with will decide whether you stay or leave the conference. I had thought long and hard about who to use before my first preliminary match. It would not be wise to use your strongest member right off the bat since your future competitors will devise counters to it. It would not do good to use a pokemon with combat powers that are too weak either, even if they are good at setting up the stage for future matches that allow the use of more than one pokemon. The preliminaries are single battles with only one pokemon each for both opposing trainers in battle. Using a pokemon with strong combat prowess is a must.

I decided to use Dolly.

Dolly is by far the most adaptable and versatile member of the team with the wide range of moves in her arsenal. She's not the strongest if we are talking about raw combat prowess, but she is strong enough to give most people a very hard time. Many trainers have no counters or experience in dealing with ghosts due to how rare they are among the training community and the stigma about ghosts is still very prevalent among the populace. Even then, the most popular ghosts among trainers in Hoenn are sableyes or dusclops. If trainers managed to get their hands on a reaper cloth, then you might face the rare dusknoir. Hardly anyone will want to train a shuppet into a banette as they are not known for being good in combat. They don't have sableye's proficiency in recovery moves and they do not possess the defense that the dusclops line boast. Banettes are known for having slightly better offensive capabilities among the three, but it is often overshadowed by other species of pokemons.

In short, none of my opponents so far knew how to deal with Dolly.

Another reason for me using Dolly is that in the event that we met a formidable foe during the preliminaries that we are unable to bring down, we can always fall back on Destiny Bond as a last resort. A draw in the preliminaries, or in any matches throughout the entire duration of a conference for the matter, is rare, but it had happened before. In the case of preliminary matches, a draw will simply cause the two participants in question to be reshuffled and arranged to face off another competitor. It will not have any effect on my standing besides a temporary stagnation and an extra round of battle.

No one had managed to push me and Dolly to that extent yet. In fact, they are so laughably weak that I felt _bored_. How did these people earn their eight badges?!

I know I sound arrogant but this is truly how I feel right now. If this is the standard of the Ever Grande Conference, then it will really feel as if that I have wasted both my time and those of my team in training for it. At this rate I don't think I will even need to send out Kratos, he had been looking forward to face a challenging foe too.

Alright, bad thoughts. Bad, bad thoughts. Snap out of this, Velda Vera. It will not do good for you to be underestimating anyone. It is only the preliminaries, the real show is at the back.

To make sure I don't give out too much information about myself and my team, I only let Fuzzy and Dolly out when I walked around in public. I don't want anyone to know who I might use against them in the conference. No one took Fuzzy seriously, his species are known for being good companion pokemon but never had anyone used them for battles on this level. He will just be brushed off as an afterthought. Everyone who deemed me as a threat will know about Dolly so letting her out to have some fun in seeing the new sights of Ever Grande will not put us in any disadvantage for our future matches. So officially, even if my profile for this conference only shows that I have a banette on hand, everyone who keeps an eye out for me will know that I have a banette and a pachirisu. However, like I said, no one will take Fuzzy seriously. They will think I'm mad if I sent him out for battle in the conference.

Just wait until Fuzzy beats their team into the ground and zap them silly. They will be the ones raving mad by then.

The most hilarious and unexpected thing is this: Dolly is too good at what she does. Due to how effortlessly Dolly had teared our opposition apart without a single scratch on her, many people had assumed that I am a Ghost Specialist given how well-trained Dolly is. To them, this is not a good sign due to how feared Ghost Specialists are among the training community if you ever faced them in battle. From what I gathered from the rumour mill, some of them had even compared me to Phoebe of the Elite Four and even _Agatha_ from Kanto. Like, _come on_ , I am nowhere even close to being a Ghost Specialist! Agatha will probably be pissed if she ever heard how these people compared _me_ to _her_.

I don't think I can blame them though. The only pokemon I have ever been shown to use is Dolly and it does make sense to take an educated guess at the specialty of the trainers you might face by looking at the type of pokemons they are known to use. Generalists like me are rare especially at the higher levels of pokemon battles. These people have obviously ignored Fuzzy's presence and thought that he is just another companion pokemon. There are some trainers who kept pokemons on their team simply for companionship and not use them for battle, it is not that rare.

The kicker? Someone had started to dub me the ' _Ghost Mistress_ ' by my third preliminary match and somehow this moniker had spread around to the participants like wildfire. I don't know whether to cry or laugh when I first heard about it. My team simply burst out laughing, or their equivalent of laughter when I told them about it in private.

In the end, I decided to simply play along with the assumptions since it will be advantageous to us later on. My future opponents will be preparing to face a Ghost Specialist when I am in fact, a Generalist. I purposely let Dolly be visibly near me whenever I showed myself in public and it helped us in moving around unhindered as everyone simply gave us a wide berth wherever we go. Like Dolly, I will use trickery and deceit to win us this conference and bring us as far as we can possibly go. If they want to assume I am a Ghost Specialist simply by basing their judgement on Dolly alone, then it will be their downfall, not mine.

Dolly treats this issue as the largest prank she will be doing in her life and is doing her very best to solidify the assumption that I am a Ghost Specialist.

Rena and Kel are not very happy with the fact that now they are unable to walk around with me in public like they are used to, but they understand the advantages of secrecy at this stage of the conference if we want to win. I still let them out in the dorm that we are provided with so that they can cuddle and sleep with me at night, so it's fine for them. For the rest of my team, I let them out in the training field when it is my allotted time slot to use it for training purposes.

Every participant in the conference is being housed in their own individual dorm rooms in small villages for the entire duration of the conference. It won't be smart to house a few trainers in a single room given that many trainers have the habit of sleeping with their pokemons, and pokemons who are trained to be strong enough to take part in the conference are often very protective of their trainers. Housing a few trainers in a single room, even if it is only two, is just asking for accidents to happen. Pokemons will not care if they killed someone else as long as to them, they have protected their team and trainer from harm. In addition, it will be hard for trainers to plan their strategies for the conference privately in their dorm if there is another competing participant rooming with them.

The secrecy aspect of the conference also means that trainers are often not willing to publicly showcase their team members more than necessary so that they can have the element of surprise for their future matches. However, training needs to be done and there are only so many training fields available. The committee had allocated specific timeslots for every single participant to a specific training field for our own private use and these training fields are located in a building that is specially built for this purpose. Each training field is just a big room where your pokemons can wreck havoc to your heart's content without fear of the building collapsing or someone else spying on you. The only thing we need to ensure is that we clear up our own messes and restore it into its original state for the next user. If a participant is being eliminated from the conference after losing in battle, his right to use the training field will automatically be revoked so that trainers who really need it can use it. Spying on a competing participant while they are conducting training for their team is also heavily frowned upon and anyone caught doing that will be expelled and heavily punished. Even if someone tried that on me, they will not succeed. I have Rena whose powers have precognitive abilities. I have Dolly who have the ability to sense out negative emotions. I have Bigblue who has a built-in radar on his head. I have Snap who can sense the most minute of vibrations on the ground and can tell who is around us simply by standing on it. Clearing up the training field and restoring it to its original state after use is not a big problem either. I have Bigblue, Lily, Snap, and Kratos and each of them have the ability to restore the training field in an instant.

In fact, the four of them even went the extra mile to beautify it. The ground of the training field is just a mixture of dirt and gravel and my allocated training field is located on the ground level. The room is constructed by simply placing four sturdy walls and a ceiling in a rectangular fashion. The ground of the training field always felt smoother after my pokemons restored it with their powers. There are times where it is actually smooth enough to reflect light as if the ground has been waxed. Rena even told me that there is an ongoing competition between the four of them to see who is the best in beautifying the training ground after use. As of now, Snap is in the lead.

Thanks to Dolly, we are now qualified to be ranked in the top 256 after the end of the preliminaries. The matches from the top 256 to the top 32 are known as the qualifying rounds and it will be a series of double battles. The matches from the top 16 and beyond will be full battles with a maximum of six pokemons on each side in a one-on-one standard style. My aim for this conference is to be ranked in at least the top 4 just like Vance did. The aim I set is hard to achieve as it means that we will have to fight all the way up to be the top 1% of the participating trainers for this conference. My team had trained hard for this, aiming for this much should be possible. The upcoming battles will get exponentially harder but we are a team that had experienced combat against the members of a gym leader's main team and survived. We can afford to aim high.

The first battle of the qualifying rounds for us will start tomorrow. Sending out Dolly is a given, but I still have no idea who to send out as the second member. My next opponent will no doubt be prepared for Dolly just as I am now prepared against him. I will have to play by ear when the time comes. The more bloodthirsty members of my team is getting a little impatient to do battle. Kratos is willing to wait for a little longer as he wants to, in his own words which were translated for me by Rena, ' _wait for a worthy opponent to face the King of the Mountain_ ', and hence he did not kick up much fuss about not being able to be sent out to battle anytime soon. Snap is a little disgruntled, but he let out his excess energy by making full use of the time we have in the training field. Toothless, however, is especially eager to do battle and never failed to remind me whenever I release him out of his pokeball by poking me gently with his claws.

Considerations about our secrecy tactics aside, I wonder if sending them out during the qualifying rounds will be overkill?

* * *

 **Edited: 1/3/2019**

 **In the dialogue between President Lucas and Wallace the President mentioned "Tabitha and Shelly", which is wrong. It should be "Courtney and Shelly" since Tabitha was killed by Flannery in the raid on Team Magma base and Courtney escaped. Also, this conference Velda is taking part should be the 528th conference, not 527th. It is an error on my part. This is the corrected version. The story is still the same as before, I just thought it will be nice to let you know of the mistake in case you got confused.**

 **AN: The Pokemon League arc is now officially underway. I wanted to see if I can squeeze in a battle in this chapter, but after I finished writing about the specifics of the conference I felt that the chapter will be too long if a battle is wrote into it. The way I wrote the conference is being heavily referenced from the one in the anime, I only added in some stuffs to make it seem more realistic.**

 **What I am really curious about is how you guys feel about the Hoenn President, Lucas Foster. I decided to start writing about the politics issue that I had written about in the story's summary in this chapter as I felt that it is the right time to start on it. I am not good in politics and neither am I knowledgeable in it. What I wrote is based on what I had read from the various mangas which have elements of politics in it. Bleach, Fairy Tail, One Piece, Naruto, are various stories which I have drawn ideas from, although most of it is being inspired from Naruto as it is the only manga which have taken the effort to explore about the political side of things a little more in depth. Kishimoto did a brilliant job in it, in my opinion. The world which he had built and the level that he had built it to is what I aspire to reach as a writer.**

 **So if you guys thought that Lucas Foster reminded you about Danzo, then I am doing things right. I want a villainous character in the political side of things, but I also want the character to be one who is a little controversial on how he does things although not to the extent on how Danzo does it. Politics is never black and white, so I need the political issue on hand to be something that is needed to be done, but not with the most favourable and welcomed method due to the necessity in quelling the issue.**

 **I just hope I don't fuck up the political stuffs in the later chapters. Writing about it is a big challenge for me.**

 **Let me know about what you guys think, especially about Lucas Foster.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**


	23. Chapter 23- Climb Up The Ranks

**"Let the battle begin!"**

On the referee's cue, my opponent, Ryan Lowe from Rustboro sent out his two pokemons as I sent out mine. From what I found out from his previous battles that were being recorded, he is a Steel Specialist.

An aggron the size of a small house made its appearance known with a loud roar and its partner, a bisharp, made a screeching noise by sharpening its bladed arms together. I can see why he chose to use a bisharp, it would be a good choice to use it against Dolly thanks to its part dark typing.

Dolly and Kel stood on our side of the arena as they stared down at their foes who are bigger than them in size. I decided to use the both of them simply because they work well together. I could have chose Flamel and Toothless to counter the steel types, but sending Toothless out now will be showing my hand too early and Ryan is known for using his aggron repeatedly in his previous battles. Despite the steel type disadvantage, aggron is also a rock type and his aggron is shown to be very proficient in rock type moves as well even if it hardly uses it, hence sending out Flamel will not be the correct choice. Dolly is tricky and vicious, and combined with Kel's cunning, the two of them can bring down almost anyone together as long as the difference in power isn't too big. I have faith in them.

"Aggron, Autotomize! Bisharp! Swords Dance!"

Powering up right off the bat? It's not a bad tactic. Autotomize can increase the speed of the user by reducing its own weight and bisharp can hit really hard if given an attack boost. However, they are facing Kel. Any form of power ups will be negated by her soon enough. There's no need to use Taunt on them just yet, I will just use their own power against them.

"Kel, use Prediction but don't attack yet. Dolly, Calm Mind."

Bisharp was the first to finish its power boost and rushed for Dolly who simply faded into the shadows before it could reach her. Kel hid herself with Double Team by creating numerous illusionary copies of herself that multiplied all across the arena. Among my team, Kel has the best proficiency in this move alongside Rena. The only way you can find her is if the opponent have a move that never misses or if you use a widespread AOE attack and even then, Kel has protective moves like Detect and Protect. She can be very elusive.

Aggron gave a roar before heading in with a Smart Strike, a move that never misses. Like I expected, Kel simply use a Detect to get out of the way before continue to hide herself with Double Team once more. Ryan's pokemons need to do better than that if they want to catch her.

The matchup for this battle is interesting, but ultimately I still don't feel as worked up as I felt in my gym battles. I can already see a few ways on how I can win this battle. Ryan's very first mistake was to let his pokemons use power boosting moves in front of Kel. In fact, his bisharp and aggron are still boosting their attack and speed even further.

"Kel, Psych Up on bisharp, then Punishment on aggron."

Psych Up copies the foe's stat changes. In this case, bisharp's attacks have already been boosted to insane levels as I let it continue to do so. The same for aggron's speed. However, Kel and Dolly are already speedy enough, they don't really need the extra speed. Having so much extra speed without knowing how to control it will not be good, it's like the problem Flamel faced when trying to master Agility. But having an overdose of attack power? No one will complain about having too much of those. With Psych Up, Kel will receive the same degree of attack boost that bisharp experienced.

The best part? Punishment is a physical move that punishes its foe for boosting its powers. Aggron have been trying to boost its speed since the start of its match, the amount of boost it received is substantial enough for Punishment to hurt. A lot.

"Aggron! Get out of there!"

"Dolly, Skill Swap and Screech on aggron!"

Dolly appeared right beside aggron and Screeched right in its face, causing it to roar in pain from the noise and stopping it in its tracks. I saw a faint psychic glow that signified the use of Skill Swap and I grinned. I don't know if this aggron has the Sturdy or Rock Head ability, but Dolly's ability is Insomnia. Both Kel and Dolly are unable to use any moves that put their foes to sleep, so our opponents having Dolly's ability will be equivalent of having a useless ability in battle since we won't be able to put them to sleep in the first place. I am secretly hoping for aggron's ability to be Sturdy, it will make taking Dolly down so much harder. Dolly's Screech also have the extra benefit of lowering aggron's defense. Let's take a step back and see the bigger picture: bisharp had repeatedly used a few Swords Dance to boost its attacks which was copied by Rena. Rena used Punishment, a physical move that is able to take advantage of the copied stat change and it has the effect of having extra damage based on how much aggron had boosted itself. Now, Dolly used a Screech on aggron to lower its physical defense. Just how much damage is aggron going to take from all the mixture of buffs and debuffs combined with Punishment's unique effect?

I cannot wait to find out.

Kel bashed her horn against aggron and sent it flying to the other end of the arena. Aggron's use of Autotomize had reduced its weight significantly and it only made it easier for Kel to push it away from her. Bisharp had tried to save its comrade, but Dolly sent Thunderbolts at it to force it to back off.

To my surprise, the aggron is still able to get back up even if it is struggling to do so.

"Unleash Prediction!"

On command, Kel released a large wave of Razor Winds and Future Sight at aggron. Bisharp managed to give Dolly the slip and stood in front of the huge waves of wind and psychic energy. It coated the blades on its arm with dark energy and proceeded to slash at them with repeated use of Night Slash. It sent beams of Dark Pulse that forced Dolly and Kel to run and back off as Aggron went to sleep with Rest.

Or it tried to go to sleep with Rest, but its ability is now Insomnia thanks to Dolly's Skill Swap. I didn't plan for this to happen either, but I will take what I get. Come to think of it, can we use this newfound discovery to prevent our opponents to heal themselves up with Rest? We need to test this out later in our next training session.

With its access to a recovery move lost, Aggron sent a Flash Cannon at Dolly who went to hide in the shadows once again. Bisharp tried to seek her out with a Feint Attack but was intercepted by Kel who sent a Shock Wave at it. In my opinion, I would want to take aggron down first as its species are capable of learning a wide variety of moves, even more so than the bisharp species. While at first glance bisharp looks like the bigger threat thanks to its use of Swords Dance, its attacks need to make contact with either Kel or Dolly first for it to deal significant damage. Kel and Dolly are not making things easy for bisharp as they dodged or blocked each of its attacks.

"Dolly, Shadow Wisp barrage on Aggron."

Aggron screamed in pain from Dolly's attacks and bisharp tried to use this opportunity to hunt Dolly down, who had turned tangible to attack aggron in the first place. Kel thwarted its attempt once more with a Shock Wave and stood in its way before using a Flamethrower that caused the bisharp to yell in pain. Aggron roared in rage and used a Power-Up Punch but Kel dodged it once again with Detect.

"Bisharp, Sandstorm!"

A massive sandstorm brewed and it blocked our vision of Bisharp and Aggron. The two of them would not be affected thanks to their steel typing, but the sandstorm will slowly whittle down Kel's and Dolly's health. We need to do something about it, aggron and bisharp will be attacking anytime soon. Aggron will not be able to hold on for much longer thanks to the burn from Dolly's Shadow Wisp barrage and not being able to recover its lost health with Rest. Dolly had countered him hard and cut off most of its options.

We are not able to see the two steel types in the sandstorm and waiting for them to come out is simply a bad idea. We are giving them too much time to prepare. Time to heat things up and flush them out of there.

"Kel, Incinerate. Dolly, fan the flames with Ominous Wind. Flush them out."

With a cackle, Dolly flew behind Kel as Kel unleashed a huge wall of flames that would have made Flamel and Toothless proud. Dolly fanned the flames with Ominous Wind and a firestorm was produced from their combination attack. The flames washed over the other side of the arena where aggron and bisharp were hiding at. They two steel types could either come out of their own accord, or get themselves cooked in there. There's no other option that I can think of that they could take.

We waited for a while and my senses screamed to me that something is amiss. The steel types are taking too long.

"Dolly, Kel, hide yourselves!"

It was just in time too as aggron burst out from underneath the ground where they stood with bisharp riding it. They had hid themselves underground with aggron's Dig. Dolly vanished in a Phantom Force just before bisharp reached her and Kel hid herself with a Double Team once again. Aggron tried to seek her out with a Smart Strike but it was suddenly blasted with a Hex from Dolly who was hiding in the shadows. Bisharp used a Feint Attack to find Kel but was deterred once again by her Flamethrower. Rocks suddenly floated in the air and they swiftly launched themselves at Kel. I have no doubt that this is aggron's work. Kel simply used a Protect to surround herself in a protective sphere of energy to defend herself as the rocks crashed harmlessly into her shield. I can see Ryan getting desperate. On top of the Punishment that took down most of his aggron's health, it is still suffering from the burn Dolly inflicted on it and now it is a matter of time before it went down. He is in a battle against time. I, on the other hand, am perfectly fine with waiting it out. For a trainer to command the pokemon that they sent out to battle to its full potential they need to fully understand the characteristics of the typing of that pokemon and make full use of the strengths of the pokemons' type. This is not even considering the need to understand the quirks and peculiarity of the species of pokemon they are using. From what I can see, Ryan is supposed to be a Steel Specialist, but not once did I see him taking full advantage of the defensive capabilities that steel types boast. Not even an Iron Defense from aggron to defend itself from Kel and Dolly. Kel and Dolly do not boast much offensive power but I made use of their trickery and cunning to push Ryan's pokemon as far as they did. Trickery and cunning are the characteristics that their typing embodies. If we cannot take bisharp and aggron down with brute force, we will just put them at a disadvantage and then play the waiting game to tire them out. It is working.

Ryan still has a long way to go before he calls himself a Steel Specialist. He is talented and strong, but the way he is training his steel types is just… I won't say that what he did is wrong, but it definitely isn't the best way to go about doing it. I don't have a steel type myself, but even I can tell where his problems lie.

Kel disappeared with another Double Team the moment aggron finished its assault and I can see Ryan getting frustrated with his futile attempts in trying to catch either Dolly or Kel. It won't be long before he is forced to do something drastic.

"Bisharp, Protect! Aggron, Earthquake!"

See what I mean? He is as easy to read as an open book.

Bisharp shielded itself with a Protect just as aggron slammed down onto the ground forcefully. Nice try, but that still will not be enough.

Dolly exited the shadows before Earthquake was used and simply followed bisharp's example in using a Protect. Even without being able to see Kel's face, I know for sure that she rolled her eyes lazily (her favourite gesture and default reaction to anything) as she used a Detect to escape aggron's attack. With Protect, Detect, and Double Team at her disposal, it will take a lot for anyone to even hit Kel. Anyone facing her will be annoyed at how hard it is to pin her down.

Ryan even have to face Dolly alongside Kel. Poor guy.

Ryan must have know by now that I am playing the waiting game to wait for aggron to succumb to its burns. So unless he have a few more plans up his sleeves, his aggron is going down.

"Aggron, Endeavour!"

Aggron roared and charged at Kel and she leapt away gracefully to escape aggron. Bisharp stood in her way and cut off her escape route by firing small bursts of Focus Blasts around her. She is trapped.

"Kel, Substitute!"

Kel creates a copy of herself just right before aggron hit her with Endeavour. Aggron's Endeavour hit Kel's copy instead and now he is in close range with Kel.

Big mistake.

"Kel, attack aggron with Superpower!"

Kel gave a howl as she boosted her strength before slamming into aggron with great force, bringing it down into the ground and their collision created a huge crater from the impact. The super effective move finally knocked aggron out as it remained motionless on the ground.

One down, one more to go. It's time to end this, even I'm getting bored. In all honesty, I expected more from Ryan's aggron. This battle is kind of disappointing. I had thought that trainers with eight badges are stronger than this.

Bisharp took this opportunity to hit Kel with a Brick Break. Kel hissed in pain from the attack when the attack connected and shot a Flamethrower at bisharp. Bisharp used a Protect to block the attack before heading in with an Iron Head. Kel used another Double Team to get out of the way just as Dolly reappeared and used a Thunderbolt on bisharp, causing bisharp to cry out in pain.

"Metal Sound!"

Bisharp produced a sharp screeching sound that forced Kel and Dolly to retreat from the unpleasant noise. What is Ryan planning?

"Aim for the absol, Focus Blast!"

Another big mistake.

"Kel! Me First!"

Kel beat bisharp to the punch as it conjured a Focus Blast faster than what bisharp could manage and returned the stolen move back to bisharp with an even greater power. Bisharp tried to get out of the way but Dolly simply held it in place by blasting its immediate surroundings with Thunderbolts and trap it in an electric cage while standing in its way. The Focus Blast whizzed through Dolly harmlessly thanks to her ghost typing and found its mark on bisharp, and the impact sent bisharp to unconsciousness.

" **Winner: Velda Vera from Petalburg!** "

Another win for me and my team.

Both Ryan and I made our way down to the arena to shake hands as per the long standing tradition of the conference. It is basic sportsmanship to shake hands and thank your opponent for the battle after it ends, a tradition passed down in our region since the Ever Grande Conference was first founded. I'm not sure if other regions insist on it, but Hoenn does.

Kel walked up to me looking battered from the Brick Break she received from bisharp but still able to walk around perfectly fine. I'm surprised that she actually withstood that move without fainting, bisharp had used quite a number of Swords Dance prior to using Brick Break and Brick Break is super effective on her. Dolly floated up to me with not a single scratch on her as per usual and chattered excitedly while flying in circles around me.

"It was a good battle." Ryan said gruffly as we shook hands, and it is obvious that he is at least a little sore at how easily his pokemons were defeated. "I didn't know that your absol was as highly trained as your banette. Are you a Mind Arts Trio Specialist like what the other participants said? I'm kind of confused as to what you really specialise in."

What? So now I am a Mind Arts Trio specialist instead of a Ghost Specialist? And Kel is highly trained? She dislike battles for crying out loud! I'm surprised that she even agreed to participate in the conference. Just wait till I introduce the battle-hungry trio of my team into the fray, then maybe they will change their minds that Kel is highly trained.

Even if my mind is forming all sorts of retorts and feeling a serious need to facepalm at how wrong the other participants are at guessing my specialty, I still managed a polite smile and reply Ryan.

"That will be telling, wouldn't it? You can find out more if you stick around and watch the remaining matches."

Ryan stiffened a bit as Dolly floated a little too close to him for comfort right at that exact moment. He's one of those with superstitions about ghosts?

"I... will consider it." He replied quickly before politely excusing himself and bolted out of the area.

I shook my head as I recalled Kel back to her pokeball, it would be best for her to move as little as possible until I got her injuries checked at the pokemon center in the stadium. Dolly floated by my side as we made our exit.

This battle is a disappointment. I had truly expected more from my matches.

What a letdown.

* * *

Flamel watched as the other members of their team went about doing their own stuffs in the training field. Vel had ended their training early today and allowed them to do whatever they want as long as they contain their damage to within the field itself until their time in the training field is up. Currently the battle-hungry trio (Kratos, Toothless, and Snap) are having a three-way fight with each other that took up at least half the space of the training field. They have been wanting to let out some steam for awhile. Vel had told them not to go all out, she doesn't want to send any one of them to the pokemon center for emergency treatment because they are unable to tone down their attacks and critically injure each other by mistake. Dolly is having a fun time playing hide-and-seek with Fuzzy in a huge castle made of rocks that was built by Bigblue. Lily is swaying under the light in her own little corner nearby. Kel, Rena, and him are currently resting in a corner with Vel who is in a half-asleep state, lying down on the ground and leaning against his body to take a nap, but failing to truly fall asleep. Her body has been acting up again since this morning and it is making her more lethargic. Thankfully, that is the extent of the difficulty she is facing now. Her medicine is doing a great job in ensuring his trainer's continued health.

Flamel turned his attention back to Vel from where he is currently lying on the floor with her leaning against his large body from where she is lying on the ground. This is not the first time that they are spending time in this manner. Such occurrences are common when Vel is young and he is all she had. Even back then, she could have spent her time recuperating from her sickness in her own room, but she prefers to spend more time outside with him and the other pokemons on the farm whenever she can. Sometimes it is because she cannot stand the suffocating atmosphere of being alone in her room, other times it is because she does not want to worry her family. There are times where it is also because she just wants to spend time with him.

Flamel will never forget how Vel writhed in agony from the sudden bouts of pain she experienced whenever they are alone together. The pains come at random times and there is nothing anyone can do for her. Part of the reason why Vel likes to spend time in the farm instead of being in her room is also because she does not want to worry her family any further whenever her body acts up. At times like these, the only thing he can do is to be there for her. He is glad that his presence during such times is able to bring comfort to Vel.

"Do you want to go out for battle next, Flamel? I think it is time we start to reveal myself as a Generalist. The battles are getting harder. Dolly, Kel, and Rena may not be enough to handle everything and people are starting to think of me as a Mind Arts Trio Specialist now. Bunch of idiots." Vel said softly as she absentmindedly raised a hand to pet him on the side of his face with her eyes still close. Flamel snorted as a form of reply. He doesn't really care whether he gets to battle or not. He is perfectly fine with sitting out of the entire conference if the team doesn't need his help.

"I take it that you don't mind then." Vel mumbled as Kel nudged her, wanting Vel to pet her as well.

According to Vel and Dolly, the team had finished the battles for the top 256 and 64. The first double battle they had was against an Ice Specialist and Vel had sent out Rena and Dolly for battle. Rena had complained that the battle was very uninteresting, to the extent that she allowed Dolly to do most of the work and toy with their opponents. One of their opponent was a part-ice, part-ghost as well, but it is too weak to pose a threat to them. According to Rena, the ice-ghost was a little distracted by Vel's presence in the initial stage of the battle even if it recovered its bearings quickly. Still, Dolly only needed a few Shadow Balls to take it out of the battle. The other one was even less of a threat. The last battle the team participated in was against a Steel Specialist where Dolly and Kel had took part in. Kel was nearly took out in one hit due to her carelessness, but the team still won the battle. If only Kel, Rena, and Dolly were sent out thus far, Flamel can understand why the other trainers mistook Vel as a Mind Arts Trio Specialist even if according to Vel, such Specialists are very rare. But why did no one suspect, or even consider the possibility that his trainer may be a Generalist?

Humans can be so stupid at times. They fail to think of the larger picture and other possibilities, restricting their thinking to a small little box they set up for themselves without even knowing it.

To be honest, Flamel cannot wait for the conference to be over already. He does not really enjoy battles, but neither does he dislike them. It's just that he prefers to explore and wander across various places together with Vel. It's in his blood to journey across the land, his species is born that way. Even if they can fight decently well, they are not known for their combat abilities, but highly valued by humans for the utility they provide to them. Since thousands of moons ago, their species have helped humans ferry them and their goods, transporting them from one place to another. They provide good company for humans and all they asked in return was for companionship, food, and shelter. Flamel wasn't expecting Vel to be a trainer when he was taken from his herd, his entirely family before him were known to help humans in transporting their stuffs or to provide companionship. He was delighted that Vel is willing to use his help in travelling to wherever she wants to go. The trait of their species was the reason why he was chosen by Griff to be her starter in the first place since Vel is too sickly to travel for long periods of time without help. Vel's dream coincides with what he enjoys most, and he will do his utmost best to ferry her around to wherever she desire until his legs don't work anymore.

When Vel was younger, she always show a different side of herself whenever she is alone with him and lying under the shade of Whiskers's great oak tree, a linoone that he never met since it was dead before he was Vel's. It's hard to pin down what kind of side that Vel is showing exactly, but Flamel thinks that it is a more honest side of her, where she says and complains about things with more snark and sarcasm than usual. Things that she can only say without any other humans around, even her human family. Flamel knows that all she needs is a listening ear, and he is more than happy to provide it to her.

Being Vel's starter comes with responsibilites even if he doesn't need to bear them most of the time. It isn't in Flamel's nature to talk much and he doesn't speak unless it's necessary. The members that made up their team thus far are amicable to each other and they feel like a big family even if it can be a little rowdy at times. They are perfectly fine without him needing to keep an eye out on them constantly. They are only a few times where he needed to step up and whip some of the members into shape, like when Kratos first joined the team and he have to be the voice of reason so that the team don't eat him up straightaway for his rude attitude, or when Toothless was feeling guilty after Vel nearly died in Lilycove. As Vel's starter, he feels that it is his job to maintain the peace and harmony within the team so that Vel has less to worry about, and to keep an eye out for the well-being of the members. Vel can understand them most of the time, but ultimately, she doesn't speak their language. Without Rena acting as a translator there's no way for Vel to understand what they are trying to tell her with perfect accuracy. Hence, it will be easier if Flamel can help her handle any pokemon-related problems that he can help solve by himself.

The battle-hungry trio had finish their little fight and Toothless flew down from the air and landed beside Vel. He forcefully shooed Kel away from Vel using his large body, much to her annoyance, and gently placed his snout on Vel's lap for her to pet. Vel simply laugh at this childish display and indulge Toothless. Toothless began to poke Vel gently with a single claw once again.

"Yeah, I know. Our next opponents don't look like they can put up a good fight though. I think you might be disappointed. Besides, the team we are facing next will be a team of electric types. You will be at a serious disadvantage there and I know you don't like getting zapped."

Toothless gave a whine and the entire team gave him an eye roll for his childish behaviour. Toothless may be a big, bad fire-breathing lizard. But in Vel's presence he can throw a tantrum even bigger than a newborn growlithe pup for the sake of the smallest and the most redundant of things.

"None of that right now. I promised you that I will send you out if we chance across a suitable opponent for you, didn't I? It won't take very long now. Just be patient, alright?"

Toothless gave a huff and went to curl himself up beside Vel, but purposely showing his back to her to let her know how displease he is at this arrangement.

"Toothless."

There wasn't a reply but Toothless went to curl himself up even tighter, hiding his face from view with his wings.

"Ah, such a shame." Vel said as she dug through her bag and fished out something. The sound of plastic ripping got Toothless's head perking out from his wings and Flamel can see that he is trying very hard not to turn around.

"I wanted to share this with you too. But since you don't want it." Vel popped one of the sugary goodness into Flamel's mouth. It is not as nice as the sugar cube Vel feeds him occasionally, but marshmallows are still a good enough substitute. "I guess the rest of the team can take your share if you don't want them."

Fuzzy jumped at this opportunity and began to dig into the bag of marshmallows and chewed in an obnoxious manner, purposely making it loud enough for Toothless to hear. Kel and Rena began to eat a few pieces too and Vel herself popped a few pieces into her mouth. Kratos opened his mouth wide and Vel took the cue and threw a few pieces into his opened mouth from where she is lying down on the ground. Similar to Fuzzy, Kratos purposely snapped his mouth in an exaggerated manner to prompt a reaction out of Toothless.

Vel was about to pop another marshmallow into her mouth when Toothless scurried back to her side and opened his mouth wide. Vel gave a smirk and threw the marshmallow in her hand into his waiting jaws instead.

 _'Whipped. Toothless is whipped.'_

 _'I respect him a lot, y'know, since he was the first one to train me when I first joined. But seeing him like this kind of take out the respect I feel for him.'_

 _'You haven't seen him when he was younger, Kratos.'_

Vel had emptied the packet of marshmallows into Toothless's mouth by now and he is now munching happily on the snacks, his previous displeasure forgotten in favour of his favourite snack. He gestured for more, but Vel sent him a disapproving stare.

"No more, Toothless. Unlike Macky, you can get fat from eating too much sugary stuffs. It's not healthy for you."

Toothless gave another whine but he shut up the moment Vel sent him a glare.

"We need to leave soon." Vel said as she stood up and dusted herself. "Kratos, you mind returning the field back to its original state?"

 _'Eh, I do, actually. I'm feeling lazy today. Why don't you ask Snap or something?'_ Kratos grumbled as he gave a yawn to try and shirk off the job assigned to him.

 _'I was the one who fixed it up the last time we were here. It's your turn now, lazy ass.'_

Vel wouldn't understand what they are grumbling about since she don't talk pokemon-nese, but Flamel does.

 _'Go and do your job, Kratos. Stop being lazy. Being the strongest here doesn't automatically give you the right to slack off.'_

 _'Alright, alright. Geez, you can be even stiffer than Rena sometimes. You sure you are not a part psychic, Flamel?'_

Kratos ignored Rena's scowl as he commanded the rocks and sand underneath the ground and the damage to the field was repaired in a matter of seconds, a testament to his mastery over rock type techniques.

 _'Not good enough. You left out a spot.'_

Bigblue shifted his feet slightly and immediately the ground look different even if there weren't any obvious changes. Somehow, the ground seemed smoother now.

 _'Bet none of you can make it shine like I do.'_

 _'One day I will find out what you did to make it shine, Snap. Just you wait.'_

 _'The day that happens is the day Flamel becomes a joker like Fuzzy. Not happening.'_

 _'Hey! You guys love me and you know it! Everyone loves the awesome, wonderful, charming, extraordina-'_

 _'Shut. Up. Fuzzy. You are making my head hurt with your Echoed Voice. Stop using it to broadcast your words to everything within a one mile radius. It's too loud and annoying.'_

 _'Kel~~~ How else will the world know how awesome I am otherwise?'_

 _'Stop dallying. We need to leave now and Vel isn't feeling very well in the first place. The only reason she came here is so that we can stretch our legs and enjoy ourselves without anyone spying on us. Let her go back to the room to rest.'_

With those words, Flamel had succeeded in getting the group's attention. If he allows them to carry on their conversation they will still be arguing in this spot for Arceus-knows-how-long. If there is one thing the team can agree on, it will be about Vel's well-being. She is precious to them.

Vel recalled most of the team without much fanfare, only leaving out Fuzzy, Dolly, Kel, and Rena since they had already took part in battles and their identity was made known. They don't need to stay in their pokeballs to hide their identity any longer. What was surprising is that she hadn't recalled him yet.

"I need a lift, Flamel. Still feeling a little tired."

Flamel lowered his body slightly so that it will be easier for Vel to climb onto his back. He will never reject a request from Vel for him to give her a ride.

He will be Velda's legs for as long as he live.

* * *

I guess it was a good choice for me to send out Flamel and Fuzzy instead of Dolly today. Our opponents today may be a little troublesome for Dolly to handle.

A vikavolt and a heliolisk entered into battle on the opponent's side just when I send in Flamel. Fuzzy hopped off my shoulder and did an impressive acrobatic flip in midair before landing on Flamel's back dramatically. There were people from the audience who actually clapped at the display.

" _And will you believe that! Trainer Velda from Petalburg sent in a pachirisu! A pachirisu! Ladies and gentlemen! A pokemon that is usually more often seen in pokemon contests or found stealing the berries in your backyard! Just what is the Ghost Mistress planning by sending in pokemons that are not ghost types? Just what is she planning on using pokemons that are not her specialty or from the Mind Arts Trio? Is she so strong that she can afford to hide her true power as a Ghost or Mind Arts Trio Specialist by using pokemons that are not under the category of her specialisation? Will she lose her standing in the conference by sending in a pachirisu?_ "

I ignored the comments from the commentator of this match. They are still on about me being a Ghost Specialist? Are you kidding me?! It's obvious by now that I am not a Ghost Specialist! Or a Mind Arts Trio Specialist! I didn't even know there were Specialists known as 'Mind Arts Trio Specialists' until recently since people started to call me as such! Please tell me that they are doing this just to hype up the match.

Judging from the confused expression of the opposing trainer, they probably haven't made the connection that I am in fact a Generalist. Oh well, whatever. It means more surprises for me to capitalise on at the later stages of the conference.

Heliolisk immediately starts off with an Electric Terrain and vikavolt started to increase its speed with Agility. I don't know much about both species of pokemon due to their rarity in Hoenn, but I know enough to know what to expect when facing them in battle.

"Flamel, Agility and Sunny Day follow up by Incinerate! Fuzzy! Into the skies!"

The two of them immediately jumped into action as Flamel matches vikavolt's increase in speed with his own and bathed the opponent's side of the field with scorching hot flames. Fuzzy flew into the air with Magnet Rise while squeaking loudly and I can hear the surprise gasps from the audiences from the sight of a flying pachirisu.

 _"My word! Will you look at it! Velda's pachirisu is FLYING! Ladies and gentlemen! A flying pachirisu! This must be a new record of some kind! How did the pachirisu achieve flight capabilities?!"_

Fuzzy is going to be famous after this.

Vikavolt charged out of the flames by opening a path with a Light Screen and heliolisk followed behind Vikavolt. Vikavolt shot out a Charge Beam at Flamel which he disrupted with a Flamethrower. Heliolisk used a Bulldoze to kick up a huge amount of sand to snuff out the flames and damage Flamel at the same time, but Flamel dodged it by jumping into the air with Bounce.

"Battering Ram!"

Flamel crashed into the ground with a Protect surrounding him at vikavolt's and heliolisk's location and forced them to scatter. Fuzzy sprayed star-shaped rays of Swift and it nailed his targets thanks to Swift's unique properties of never missing its targets. Flamel used a Fire Blast on vikavolt, wanting to take it down as soon as possible only for vikavolt to destroy his attack with a combination of Charge and Thunderbolt.

A Thunder Wave sped towards Flamel but Fuzzy intercepted it with a Shock Wave from above. Vikavolt had apparently decided that it should go and take down Fuzzy before he proves to be an even greater annoyance and sped off into the air towards his direction. Heliolisk sent a massive Thunderbolt at Flamel but he got out of the way with another use of Agility and returned fire with Flamethrower. I was surprised when heliolisk braved through the attack without a scratch. It must have used Electrify to turn Flamel's attack into an electric type before it made contact, reducing the damage from Flamel's Flamethrower. Electrify is an attack that is only found in its species.

Huh, that Electrify was a smart move.

Vikavolt and Fuzzy are speeding around in the air. Vikavolt's aerial maneuvers are impressive and I have no doubt that it had undergone rigorous training to achieve such proficiency in aerial battles. Vikavolt shot out attacks from its strong jaws but Fuzzy evaded every single one of them. Fuzzy slammed a barrage of hard seeds onto vikavolt with Seed Bomb which does nothing other than to knock it off balance for a little while. However, that short amount of time is what Fuzzy needs to land on vikavolt's back and use a Super Fang on it, causing vikavolt to scream in pain.

The scream got heliolisk's attention and it attempted to rescue vikavolt but Flamel cut off its escape route with a well-timed Fire Spin, trapping it in a swirling wall of hot flames. Heliolisk immediately conjured a temporary Sandstorm in his immediate surroundings to extinguish the flames but Flamel used this opportunity to charge in with a Flare Blitz and rammed heliolisk, sending it flying into the psychic barrier. Vikavolt had also somehow managed to get Fuzzy off its back and used Bug Buzz but Fuzzy countered the sound-based move with Echoed Voice, fighting noise with noise.

Heliolisk charged back in with a Surf and Flamel have no choice but to escape into the air with Bounce once more. Vikavolt took this chance and sent out beams of electric attacks at Flamel but Fuzzy got there in time and stood between Flamel and vikavolt's attacks before using Protect to shield the both of them. Fuzzy followed up with a Follow Me to focus vikavolt and heliolisk's attention on him as Flamel landed back safely onto the ground. I watched as Fuzzy expertly dodged all of vikavolt's and heliolisk's attacks in the air and I commanded Flamel to bring back the sun with a Sunny Day and to prepare his flames.

"Ally Switch then Overheat!"

Flamel suddenly replace himself into Fuzzy's position and unleashed the white-hot flames of Overheat onto vikavolt who screamed in pain from the sudden attack. Heliolisk tried to use Thunderbolt to attack Flamel in an attempt to save vikavolt but it is still under the influence of Fuzzy's Follow Me and attacked Fuzzy instead, who simply side-stepped the attack. Vikavolt managed to nimbly strike Flamel with Acrobatics and sent him back to the ground and followed after Flamel while firing its attacks but like heliolisk, is under the infuence of Fuzzy's Follow Me and hence directed its attacks to Fuzzy instead. Flamel got back up, a little bruised but otherwise still ok, and used Morning Sun to heal himself with the effects being boosted by Sunny Day.

From what I can see, both vikavolt and heliolisk are good at long-distance battle but is pretty average in a close quarter fight if their skirmish is anything to go by. Flamel and Fuzzy can win if they can close the distance.

Flamel separated vikavolt and heliolisk with a Fire Blast and charged in with a Flame Charge. My opponent finally had the sense to block out the sun by commanding the heliolisk to use Rain Dance and increase the potency of his team's electric type attacks.

"Flamel, High Horsepower on heliolisk!"

Flamel began attacking heliolisk aggresively, who was too slow in getting out of the way. Vikavolt took to the skies once more and I can see it charging up a Thunder, taking advantage of the rain clouds in the sky as the entire arena began to drizzle.

"Fuzzy, Lightning Rod!"

Vikavolt summoned a huge column of lightning down upon Flamel but it was suddenly redirected into another direction and zapped towards Fuzzy's location on the ground with his tail high into the air, glowing a metallic sheen due to his use of Iron Tail. Fuzzy abandoned the use of Iron Tail and pulled off a Protect at the very last minute, blocking the attack and saving Flamel from a possible knockout from vikavolt's Thunder. Heliolisk tried to nail Flamel with a Thunderbolt but Flamel defended himself with a Protect before forcing heliolisk to keep its distance with a Double Kick.

Vikavolt tried to heal itself with Roost but Flamel used Hypnosis, a move he took a few weeks to learn from Holly, and put vikavolt to sleep before it can heal itself. Heliolisk woke vikavolt up violently by sending a zap of electricity to the electric bug pokemon. Flamel charged in with a Drill Run and heliolisk barely had the time to scramble and get itself out of the way as Flamel began to engage it in close combat by kicking with Double Kicks and Stomps or try to jab it with his horn with Megahorn and Poison Jab. Heliolisk sent out a large flare of electricity with Parabolic Charge in an attempt to seriously injure Flamel but he simply block it with a Protect before rushing in again, maintaining the ferocity of his attacks to keep up the pressure and forcing heliolisk to run and keep its distance instead of trying to attack. Fuzzy is also doing a wonderful job in distracting vikavolt and dropping attacks of his own whenever he can as they both flew in the air and engage in aerial combat.

Heliolisk and vikavolt are well-trained, but ultimately they excel in long-range combat instead of close quarters from what I can see about their battle styles thus far. So, the easiest way we can win is if we can force them to fight us on our terms, to prevent them from gaining distance from us by bringing the fight to them up close.

As I expected, heliolisk slipped up after a while and Flamel managed to hit it with his horn with Poison Jab. To my delight, heliolisk was also inflicted with the poisoned status.

An Iron Tail from Fuzzy sent vikavolt careening towards heliolisk and vikavolt slammed violently into its comrade. This is the best chance we are going to get.

"Flamel, Sunny Day and Overheat!"

The sun rays immediately broke through the rain clouds and Flamel unleashed another wall of white-hot flames onto his targets. They both screamed in pain and tried to get out, only for Fuzzy to cut off their escape route with a large barrage of Swift and send them flying back into the raging inferno of flames.

"Heliolisk, Surf!"

A huge wall of water rose up from underground and came crashing down onto the wall of flames, extinguishing it immediately and both vikavolt and heliolisk sent out a huge blast of electricity at Fuzzy and Flamel. The two of them only just managed to pull off a Protect to shield themselves when vikavolt suddenly rushed in with a huge amount of electricity forming in front of its opened mouth just when the shield of Protect dwindled.

It must be trying to bring down at least one member of my team with a sudden unexpected sneak attack. The best defense Flamel and Fuzzy are able to utilise is Protect and it is hard to ensure successful consecutive uses for Protect, this is the best time for my opponent to bring Fuzzy and Flamel down since their best defense is not an option right now.

However, there are still ways to stop vikavolt.

"Flamel, Swagger on vikavolt!"

The sudden move managed to catch vikavolt off guard and inflicted a confused status on it. To my delight, vikavolt's attack had dissipated from its confusion. Flamel took this chance to head in with a Flame Charge and the force of that blow took vikavolt out for good.

"Fuzzy, engage heliolisk!"

Fuzzy squeaked in acknowledgement and dashed towards heliolisk with a Quick Attack. Heliolisk retaliated with a Bulldoze but Fuzzy managed to somehow get out of the way with an impressive display of acrobatics. Heliolisk was poisoned from Flamel's Poison Jab prior to this so it cannot last for much longer. We can bring it down.

"Take the both of them out with Surf! Full power!"

Ah dammit.

"Flamel, dodge with Bounce! Fuzzy! Endure!"

Fuzzy is way too close to heliolisk to dodge that Surf attack and I'm not sure if Flamel can pull off another Protect so soon after its previous use. Flamel had never been the best at using defensive moves and he don't have a wide variety of those in his arsenal as well. It is usually better for him to dodge attacks than to block it or take it head on.

Flamel leapt into the air with his powerful legs and Fuzzy endured the huge wall of water crashing down on his small form with Endure. Somehow, Fuzzy managed to hold his position without getting swept off by the torrent of water. It might just snatch us the win.

"Fuzzy, Flail!"

Flail is an attack that gains more power the lower the health of its loser. It's the perfect move for Fuzzy to use now.

With a desperate attack, Fuzzy slammed heliolisk on the head with his tail and sent him into the ground in a brutal manner. The force of the blow was big enough to form a small crater on the ground where heliolisk lay motionless.

We won our last double battle.

" **Winner: Velda Vera from Petalburg!** "

With the referee's announcement, our win became official and the crowd who was watching in anticipated silence erupted into a huge round of applause for me and my pokemons. The commentator began to speak again but I tuned him out, I'm more concerned with Fuzzy's well-being.

Fuzzy jumped and landed on my shoulder the moment I reached the arena and chattered excitedly despite the fatigue that I know that he must be feeling right now. Flamel trotted up to my side and nuzzle me gently to tell me that he is fine.

"That was a good match."

My opponent, a guy from Mauville who went by the name of Cole Gibbs, walked up to me and we both shook hands, thanking each other for a great match.

"Man, I regret not sending out the stronger members of my team. I was so sure that you will be sending out your banette too, that's why I decided to send out my heliolisk since it is also a normal type." Cole said this as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I wasn't expecting your pachirisu to _fly_ of all things. That was achieved with Magnet Rise, right? I thought you are supposed to be a Ghost Specialist or a Mind Arts Trio Specialist? I wasn't expecting your companion pokemons to be that strong."

Wait. What? Companion pokemon? I can understand if they mistook Fuzzy as a companion pokemon, but Flamel?

Cole somehow missed the confused expression on my face as we both walked out of the destroyed arena and continued speaking.

"Rapidashs are only known for their speed and their usefulness in ferrying people around and not for their combat abilities. The only person I know that use a rapidash in battle is Blaine, the gym leader of Cinnabar in Kanto, and he don't use it often. From what I know, usually he only use his rapidash to ferry him around. My brother told me that when he was in Kanto for a few years. If your companion pokemons are that strong, I don't know how strong the members of your main team are. What type of Mind Arts Trio pokemons do you use anyway? Absol, espeon, and banette are not exactly common pokemon to be used in battle. It is hard to find their species in the wild and even fewer trainers are willing to use them in a high level battle such as this one." He stopped talking for a moment and looked at me as his eyebrow rose higher and higher. "Are those three even from your main team? Just WHAT exactly do you specialise in?"

Well, if he wants to continue thinking that I am a Mind Arts Trio Specialist, I don't mind letting it remain that way.

"I think what I specialise in is pretty obvious by now." I replied with a half-truth. As of now, the members of my team that I revealed have known typings of ghost, psychic, dark, electric, and fire. If that is not a strong enough indication to the other participants that I am a Generalist, I don't know what is. It's just that I hope to solidify the impression that I am a Mind Arts Trio Specialist with the way I phrase my words. The longer the other remaining participants are in the dark about my strength, the better it is for me and my team.

"True." Cole conceded. "You are obviously a Mind Arts Trio Specialist with two super strong companion pokemons. You actually make me want to go catch a pachirisu right now just to see if I can train it to fly."

"Let me know when you do, maybe we can even compare our notes."

* * *

"Dolly, dodge it!"

Dolly zipped around the field as our opponent's hydreigon tried to blast Dolly to pieces with a variety of attacks. To make it worse, each of its three heads are able to act independently and fire their own attacks. Right now, a Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Flamethrower are trying to find their mark on Dolly.

I had never expected for the very first pokemon my current opponent to send out to be something as strong as a hydreigon. This is the battle for the top 32 and it will be a 6 vs 6 single battle. The strength of the opponents that I will be facing from now onwards will get exponentially higher.

I know enough about the hydreigon species since I was in charge of training Chewy for a short while, but that doesn't make things any easier since it is a _hydreigon_ we are talking about. I know my current opponent is a Dark Specialist and that most of Dolly's ghost type attacks will not be very effective. However, she have a wide range of other moves in her arsenal and her main task is to hinder and scout the strength of our opponent, not to damage them. I just didn't expect for her to face a rampaging hydreigon right off the bat.

There's no way Dolly can face a hydreigon without taking drastic measures such as Destiny Bond or Curse, and there is no point in doing so. My opponent, Max Boyer, have a pretty good win streak thus far and I suspect that he might have more pokemons on the level of his hydreigon. We might need Dolly's strength then.

Besides, he's not the only one with a pseudo-legendary. I have one on my side that is able to go toe-to-toe with it.

"Dolly, Dazzling Gleam!"

Hydreigon gave that fairy type attack a wide berth and it bought us enough time for me to safely recall Dolly into her pokeball. I palmed another pokeball in my other hand and I cannot help but give a smirk. On the very first day that I received him from Vance, I still remember that Dad had said that this guy won't lose to even a dragon when trained properly. Time to test the validity of that statement.

"Rise and shine, Kratos." I whisper to the pokeball that houses the strongest member of my team. I know that he can hear me when I speak to it in such a manner.

I let his pokeball soar into the air and he was released from his pokeball at the apex of the flight of his pokeball. Kratos announced his appearance on the battlefield with a deafening roar and I saw many people covering their ears from the noise. The ground shook slightly the moment Kratos appeared and even hydreigon tensed at Kratos's sudden presence. The sands around Kratos's feet started to swirl, and I know that his Sand Stream ability is starting to kick in. The crowd started to go wild at the excitement from the thought of being able to witness a rare fight between pseudo-legendaries. Pseudo-legendary pokemons are rare in the first place, and a fight between pseudo-legendaries are even rarer. This is the perfect battle for Kratos's debut.

Kratos and hydreigon eyed each other warily and I can see the two dark types sizing each other up. Their growls and snarls grew more bloodthirsty with each passing second and I know this battle is going to be a brutal one. They are both dark types after all. They are not known for being kind to their foes.

I see Kratos giving me a glance and I nod my head to give him the go-ahead. He is strong enough to handle himself with minimal help from me. All I need to do is to help him watch out for any attacks from hydreigon that he might miss and give him directions only when necessary.

"Go wild, Kratos. Show the world how strong you are. Show them why you are King."

The only response I got from Kratos is an earth-shattering roar as the sands rose from the ground around Kratos and formed a huge wall of sand that reached the maximum height of the psychic barriers before they rushed towards hydreigon like a massive tsunami wave. Kratos's ability with rocks is no longer limited to pebbles. He is now able to even manipulate individual grains of sand, something that even Bigblue, Snap, and Lily did not manage to achieve. Kratos's Sand Stream ability is fine-tuned to the extent that if he wishes it, he can choose whether he wants to manifest it in a massive sandstorm by letting the sands go wild or to take absolute control like what he is doing right now.

Among the few pokemons that are given the title of 'pseudo-legends', only the metagross and tyranitar species are non-dragon types. Thanks to this, many people have the misconception that dragons are the strongest species of pokemons out there in this world since most of the pseudo-legendaries are dragon types. I will prove them wrong. I will remind the world once again why Kratos's species is so feared. I will show them that not only dragons can achieve the title of 'pseudo-legendary'.

I will show them why Kratos is King.

* * *

 **AN: I wanted to hold onto this chapter and post them at a later date to check for any further errors. However, my recess week had ended a week ago and I don't think I will be posting anything on FFnet until around May since I have many projects and homeworks to finish. Hence, I decide to post this chapter first for you guys to enjoy before going MIA at the risk of potential grammar and spelling mistakes.**

 **I hope that the double battles don't disappoint. I wanted to make it more exciting, but the opponents at that stage cannot be too strong. The hard part is that I have to make the battles exciting while making sure that Velda don't crush them straight away. It is hard to find the perfect balance, to be honest. I don't want to write all three double battles from the top 256 to top 64, it will be too repetitive and boring, so I omitted the battle for top 256 and write for two double battles instead.**

 **You guys were also right to say that I should give Flamel a little more screen time since he is Vel's starter, so I included his pov in this chapter as well. When I first created Flamel's character, I wanted him to be the silent, loyal type that will be there for Vel no matter what. That's the reason why he spoke so little throughout the story. I think I may have overdone it a little, and it made it seem as if the screen time was taken up by other members instead.**

 **I also have to confess that I made an error in my previous chapters. This EGC should be the 528th, not 527th. In chapter 1, the EGC that Griff participated in should be the 501st, not 484th. I had mixed up his birth year or something for the year he participated in the conference. The mistake had since been corrected, but I thought that I should let you guys know.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will try to bring more exciting battles to you guys for the EGC arc.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**


	24. Chapter 24- Powerhouse

Finally, a worthy opponent for his stature. An opponent worthy for a King to crush.

Kratos watched on as his sand swept the void dragon down and bury it. He's not foolish enough to think that the void dragon will go down with just that one move, Vel had made sure to beat out all sense of stupidity and arrogance out of him even before he reached the apex of his evolution. He still prefers to annihilate his foes with overwhelming force if possible, but he now knows the importance of planning and strategizing under Vel's tutelage.

If anyone told him that he will one day be able to wield the power to control even the smallest grain of sand, he would have no doubt called that person crazy and then attempt to eat them alive. It's just not possible. Moving rocks and pebbles? Yes, that is not a problem. But to use the power he has over rocks _to move only a single grain of sand?_ Impossible. That would require too much concentration, concentration that would be impossible to achieve in battle.

But Vel had made it possible for him.

He had help, of course. Bigblue, Lily, and Snap all came together with Vel and helped him think of ways to make Vel's vision of him a reality, what he could and managed to become shortly after he became a tyranitar. Vel had envisioned him to be able to not only bring the desert with him, but to move and control the very desert itself. Vel had said that if Kratos's dream is to be truly strong and stand at the pinnacle of all pokemon, then he needs something overwhelmingly strong and unique. He needs a power that only he can wield. She reasoned that if his ability was Sand Stream, then he ought to have some semblance of control of sand to even be able to summon it in the first place. She did a lot of guesswork and came up with even more theories on how and why the Sand Stream ability came about in the first place. Most of it got over his head and he don't understand even half of what Vel said. His ability over sand is just… there. Even he doesn't know how he called upon it in the first place, just that he can.

What he did know, is that the conclusion Vel had arrived at after many days and nights is that Kratos's power over sand probably had a link to his power over rocks. According to her, only three species of pokemon wield the same ability as him. His species, a ground type called hippowdon, and a rock type named gigalith. Two out of the three known species of pokemon that wield the power of Sand Stream are rock types, and there must be a reason why.

So, the first order of business is to improve his mastery of rocks _even further_. Kratos still thinks Vel is a mixture of genius and madness, but he welcomed the madness in this case. Kratos still wants to be King, and he will take any opportunity to get stronger with glee. Vel helped him through the entire duration, and after many days and nights, they finally figured it out. The key to controlling sand.

As it turns out, the key to mastering what Vel had envisioned for him is actually very simple. It's what they had been doing since day one.

It's all in the mindset.

When Lily first taught him to proper way to use rock type techniques, she had stressed that it doesn't matter how absurd it seems. If he can will it, it _will_ happen, as long as he has the required power and finesse to pull it off in the first place. The moment Kratos evolved into a tyranitar, he got the power part down pat. The finesse is his proficiency in his rock type techniques, the things that he had been practicing ever since he joined the team, and he got that part down too. Bigblue, Lily, and Snap will never hit the power threshold that is the minimum requirement for them to control sand, Vel had explained that their species is not one that will ever hit that level of power. They are not pseudo-legendaries like him. At that moment, Kratos realised what it means to be called a pseudo-legendary. Pseudo-legendaries are species with the potential to hit levels of strength that no other species of pokemon will, and thus able to do feats that no other pokemon can. Among the pseudo-legendaries, only his species have to potential to control the sands, it is what makes him unique. The fact that his ability is Sand Stream had made it a lot easier to control the sands as well.

Kratos likes being unique if it means being strong.

After establishing the requirements that is needed to wield sand, what Kratos needs is the ability to will it. The ability and mindset that he _can_ do it. The ability to believe that he _can_ make the sands move to his every command.

Kratos never felt a greater sense of achievement the moment he reached that realisation, even defeating that blue reptile as a larvitar did not bring as much satisfaction as this. Vel herself looked ecstatic too when she first saw what he had finally achieved. Their entire team shared in his joy and celebrated the joyous moment as well. Vel had gave him a pat and told him that he is now the 'Gaara' of the team, whatever a 'Gaara' is. Is it a pokemon that he never heard of? Kratos would like to challenge one if he ever had a chance. If that species of pokemon had managed to even earn Vel's praise, then it ought to be strong. Maybe Vel can get one into the team in the future? Kratos wouldn't mind having more pokemons that loves a good challenge join their team, battling with Snap and Toothless is fun but fighting the same few opponents all the time can get a little dull after a while. Rena wouldn't want that though, and she is their translator. There's no way to get his point across to Vel without Rena's approval. That stupid stuck-up psychic feline. To her, no matter what he did, he will always be the 'brute'.

In return, Kratos followed Toothless's example and called her a stuck-up.

The void dragon burst out of the compressed sand and roared its challenge before firing a mixture of attacks at him. Kratos spotted a Dragon Pulse, a Flash Cannon, and a Signal Beam. A worthy foe indeed, if it is able to fire off so many attacks at once without looking winded. This is Chewy's final form, ain't it? Maybe he should challenge Chewy when he finally reaches the final stage of his evolution?

Kratos calmly raised a huge and thick wall of stone that withstood the attack from the void dragon. This void dragon is a pseudo-legendary like him, and he will crush it with his power to make a statement.

It's time to announce the birth of a King to the entire world.

The sands moved once more as Kratos sent it surging like a tidal wave from below the void dragon in an attempt to wrap around the dragon and then crush it. The void dragon moved out of the way with speed that is uncharacteristic of its size and blasted whatever sand that is too near to it with a Dragon Pulse. It bought enough time for Kratos.

Kratos charged in to engage the void dragon in close combat with speed that was enhanced with Rock Polish. This dragon is obviously a long-ranged attacker, fighting it at a distance will just be wasting time and energy. Kratos had always preferred getting up close and personal anyway.

The void dragon looked a little taken back from Kratos's sudden move, but managed to defend itself with a Dragon Tail when Kratos hit it with a Dragon Claw. The void dragon tried to distance itself as it unleashed a massive Flash Cannon, but Kratos merely commanded the sand to surround himself as he continued to brave through the attack, not letting the void dragon have the chance to get away from him. The Flash Cannon broke through his sand, but Kratos's thick armour defended him from the worst of the attack and Kratos chomped down on the dragon with an Ice Fang.

The void dragon screeched in pain and immediately uses it three heads to blast all sorts of attacks on him. Kratos defended himself with a Protect and then sent a Stone Edge at the dragon. The dragon anticipated the attack and one of his mini heads destroyed his attack with a Dragon Breath while the other two fired Dragon Pulses at him. Kratos roared his defiance and he fired a Dark Pulse so huge that it might be as well be a Hyper Beam, the beam so dark that it seemed to be the very night itself.

The resulting explosion shook the entire battlefield and Kratos grinned savagely. This is what he was looking for, a foe that is strong enough to give him a challenge, a strong foe other than those from his team.

The void dragon took the opportunity to fly higher in the sky and Kratos snarled in annoyance. The void dragon thinks it is so damn clever, huh? It thinks that flying high up in the sky and then sniping his attacks from there would bring _him_ down?

Kratos sucked in a breath and took control of the sands that covered the entire battlefield, his Sand Stream had brought enough sand for the arena to be turned into a mini desert that would have made Snap absolutely delighted. Since the void dragon had so generously gave him the control of the entire ground, he might as well take it graciously.

The sands rose like a tidal wave once more and Kratos rode it like a true emperor of the sands. If Fuzzy can ride waves of rocks without any mastery of rock type techniques, he can definitely do it too. The sands carried Kratos higher and higher into the air at a rapid speed and Kratos can hear the shocked screams and shouts from the puny humans watching from the sides. Yes, that's right. Revel and look on in awe at the glory of a King. They should be grateful to be able to bask in his presence. And in Vel's presence too. She is his trainer and mentor after all, she needs to get some credit for this.

Kratos's altitude soon overtook the void dragon's. Kratos reached the maximum height of the psychic shield and broke it casually with a Brutal Swing. This space is too damn small for an aerial battle with the void dragon. He charges up a Hyper Beam and-

"Kratos! I didn't give you permission to break the barrier! You might accidentally kill someone if your attacks went astray! Get the hydreigon down on the ground and finish your battle down there!"

Kratos gave a look of disbelief at Vel while still maintaining his hold on the Hyper Beam. This is his debut! Why can't he just make things more exciting?! Who cares about the rest of the puny humans anyway? It's not like there are anyone that they knew down there! If these humans don't have the brains to run, then who cares if they die?

"Get. Down. Here. This. Instance."

Kratos rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath. He gave the void dragon the stink eye. Vel's command just took out some fun in this battle and he needs to let out his frustration on _something_.

Like a particular void dragon, for instance.

Kratos jumped off his sand with a burst of speed, the Hyper Beam still forming at the front of his opened jaws and getting bigger and bigger by the second. The void dragon tried to move out of the way, but Kratos fired it before it can do so.

The Hyper Beam blasted the void dragon down deep into the ground and Kratos simultaneously let the huge wave of sand fall from the sky and pelted the void dragon with pellets of sand the size of pebbles. The void dragon roared and got back up. Kratos had to give it credit, it actually managed to get back up immediately without flinching and start to use Roost to heal itself.

Can't have that happening now.

Kratos used a Taunt to prevent the dragon from healing and immediately sent a Thunderbolt its way. The dragon seemed to finally give in to its rage and bloodlust and started to blast attacks at Kratos without any sense of self-preservation. Kratos can hear the dragon's trainer trying to call out to it and rein in its temper, but the dragon isn't listening. It's too blind in its rage to even listen to the words of its trainer.

Kratos roared back in excitement and glee. This battle just got a lot more fun!

 _'I will kill you!'_

The dragon finally spoke. Kratos narrowed his eyes. This is no way for a subject to address its King. The only ones who can speak to him in anything less than absolute respect are Vel and the team, or anyone related to Vel, like Vance and Vel's parents for instance. This dragon doesn't fall into any one of the aforementioned categories, the dragon's behaviour needs to be corrected. Immediately.

Kratos charged in as he sent waves of sharp, jagged rocks at the same time. His rocks met the beams of attacks from the dragon and exploded into shrapnel as they cancelled each other out. Kratos broke through without so much as a scratch on his thick armour and immediately started to claw and bite at the dragon. The dragon's two mini heads spat out huge amounts of flames as the main head started to charge up a huge amount of draconic power at the front of its maw.

Kratos recognised the attack immediately. The dragon is planning to use Draco Meteor to take it down.

Kratos got through the flames and smashed the dragon with a Brick Break, hoping to break its concentration enough to disrupt the Draco Meteor. He had been on the receiving end of a Draco Meteor from Vance's Salamence once. This time, he will not be so foolish as to try and take it head on like what he did during that battle. It was what cost him that battle. He had overestimated the durability of his armour. There are a few attacks that are strong enough to get through his armour, Draco Meteor is one of them.

Surprisingly, the void dragon managed to hold its concentration even after receiving the Brick Break.

The Draco Meteor was unleashed at point blank and Kratos only barely managed to escape with a quick application of Double Team and proceeded to surround himself with layers upon layers of thick rocks as the meteors rained down the arena. His rocks were crushed and battered and Kratos had to keep on raising more layers of rocks to replace the ones that were destroyed. Maybe it will be better to hide underground? At least he won't have to bother trying to raise rocks to defend himself and wait until the Draco Meteor died down.

Kratos quickly burrowed deep into the ground with Dig, leaving the bunker of rocks there to mislead the dragon in thinking that it had got him good with the Draco Meteor. Kratos took this time to quickly replay the battle thus far in his mind. Like him, the void dragon had lots of power, no doubt about it, but the power level of each individual beam of attack that was sent out from each of its three mouths is not as strong as he thought. It might be the key to bring the void dragon down. So why did each attack from the dragon felt weaker than it should be? Kratos felt like he is missing something here, Vel might have already pieced the information by now since she is Vel, but Kratos knew that he is not the smartest in the team and he might need the help in figuring out this issue.

 _'HAHAHA! I KILLED IT! I KILLED IT!'_

This dragon is not sanest one out there, is it? Thank Arceus he didn't turn out this way when he evolved. Kratos had heard from Kel about dark types that gave into the madness that comes with the power of evolution. Such occurrences are rare, but it usually happens when a dark type somehow evolved when it is not yet ready to handle the increase of power that comes with evolution. Kratos isn't sure if this is the case for the void dragon, or it just lost its mind temporarily in a fit of blind rage, but he doesn't care. All he cares about now is to give the void dragon a proper beatdown to teach it how to respect him as a King.

Kratos burst out of the ground from right underneath the void dragon, grabbed it by its tail, and proceeded to slam him down on the ground with a Smack Down. Kratos followed up with an Earthquake and watched in dark satisfaction as the dragon roared in pain from the attack.

The dragon fired off beams of attacks at Kratos from where it lay on the ground and Kratos defended himself expertly with Dragon Claws and Shadow Claws as he pressed a foot on the dragon, not allowing it to move. One of the void dragon's mini head used a Thunder Fang and bit on his foot, but Kratos barely felt that attack. It might as well be a tickle. Even Fuzzy's fangs did more pain.

The dragon tried to rise and fly up in the air once more but every attempt to do so was interrupted with Kratos punching it back into the ground in a brutal manner. Kratos stood over the dragon as he relished in the joy of beating the dragon senseless with his claws.

 _'I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU, THEN I WILL KILL YOUR HUMAN, THEN I WILL KILL EVERYONE ELSE HERE!'_

Kratos roared in rage as he punched the dragon with an Ice Punch this time. He can take it if the dragon insults him, it's the King's job to keep his rowdy subjects in line and to beat them into submission if they defy him. But to insult Vel? The one human who he respects and the one who made him into who he is today?

Kratos made his decision. He doesn't need such a subject in his kingdom. As a King, he thereby sentence this dragon to-

 _Death_

Kratos sent another Ice Punch after Ice Punch at the void dragon with more force than usual.

 _'You can insult me! You can try and usurp my authority as many times as you want and I won't give a shit, because you will **never** beat me! But I will never accept it if you insult my trainer! She is what made me into what I am today!'_

Kratos snarled out his words as he increased his powers with a Dragon Dance, and then slashed repeatedly at the main head of the void dragon with a Dragon Claw, causing it to scream in pain.

 _'Remember this, dragon! The era where dragons reign supreme is over! I am Kratos! The one who will eventually rule over the mountain of Mount Silver!'_

Kratos tossed the helpless dragon into the air and he jumped up after his prey and cocked his arm back, which is now brimming in energy from a Giga Impact ready to be unleashed.

 _'Sear this into the three heads of yours! My name is Kratos, the strongest tyranitar! And I am-'_

Kratos let loose the strongest punch he had ever thrown out in his life and sent the dragon crashing into the psychic barrier, which was re-erected after Vel told him to come back down. The force which the dragon crashed into the barrier caused the barrier to shatter once more and the dragon crashed into the walls that surrounded the arena. It will not be getting up.

 _'THE **KING** OF THE MOUNTAIN!'_

* * *

 _Impossible._

Max Boyer watched with wide eyes as he saw how his hydreigon was taken out by that tyranitar. His hydreigon may be uncontrollable at times, but it is by no means weak. His hydreigon is the cornerstone of his team, it is through hydreigon's powers that his team managed to earn all eight badges with relative ease.

And the tyranitar took his hydreigon out without any problems. There are a few scratches and burns on its armour, but that's it. It still looks capable of fighting another five more of his hydreigons.

 _Why?!_ He admitted that he was shocked that his opponent owns a tyranitar, but he was confident that his hydreigon can take it down even if it may result in a violent battle. Both the hydreigon and tyranitar are pseudo-legendaries and they are both dark types! Hydreigon is a dragon type too, a pokemon with superior species and typing! How did it lose to a rock type?!

Max Boyer took in deep breaths to calm himself down as he recalled his downed hydreigon. The injuries that his hydreigon suffered were brutal, that Giga Impact was strong enough to actually break through the psychic barrier. He can understand if the tyranitar can break through the psychic barrier with Brutal Swing since it is a dark type move, and psychic barriers are naturally a lot less resistant to dark type moves. But to break it with a single Giga Impact?

This tyranitar is trouble. Thankfully, he still has contingency plans for cases like these.

Max took out the pokeball that houses another member of his team and held it in front of him. It was then he realised.

 _Why are his hands shaking?_

The tyranitar gave another booming roar from where it is on the ground as it glared at him defiantly, as if telling him to get on with it already.

Max clutched the pokeball in his hand tightly. Is that tyranitar _looking down on him_?!

"Go Pangoro!"

He will teach that tyranitar a lesson.

"Arm Thrust!"

Pangoro took off with a burst of speed and prepare itself to unleash a flurry of straight-arm punches. Tyranitar stood there motionlessly and Pangoro tried to get closer to make sure its attack connected, but instead it found its arms stuck in a huge wall of sand the moment Pangoro striked out with its arms for the first time. Max immediately barked out his next command.

"Focus Blast!"

Pangoro wasted no time in blasting its way out of the sand that was about to envelop it. Tyranitar bellowed and rained down Thunderbolts at Pangoro, who dodged the attacks.

"Hyper Voice!"

Pangoro let out a loud booming noise that sent shock waves at tyranitar, who tried to shake off the noise.

"Kratos, Uproar!"

Max was suddenly reminded that this is the first time that the tyranitar's trainer finally gave her orders to her pokemon. This tyranitar had been fighting its own battle without instructions until now.

The tyranitar repelled Pangoro's noise with his own and the terrible din produced by the two echoed throughout the entire stadium. Most of the audiences are crouching down and covering their ears in pain.

"Iron Defense and Rock Polish!"

Tyranitar obeyed its trainer and begun to power up. Max gritted his teeth. He absolutely cannot allow tyranitar to power up further. It is already hard enough to take it down as it is.

"Pangoro, Grass Knot!"

Long tendrils of grass shot out from the ground in an attempt to interrupt tyranitar, but tyranitar merely raised a foot and used a Stomp to squash it with accurate timing.

"Flamethrower!"

The tyranitar let loose a stream of hot flames at Pangoro and forced Pangoro to be on the run.

"Pangoro, Swords Dance and get close to the tyranitar!"

Pangoro watched with pride as his Pangoro weaved its way through tyranitar's attack and charged towards the tyranitar, a Hammer Arm at the ready. Max grinned. No matter how it tries to defend itself, the tyranitar will be going down the moment the Hammer Arm makes contact. The strength of his Pangoro is no laughing matter and fighting type moves are very, very effective on the tyranitar species due to its dual typing.

Pangoro swing one of its mighty arms at tyranitar at close range and Max can already see the tyranitar going down in his mind's eye.

His dream was shattered as tyranitar somehow pulled off a Protect right at the last second. Pangoro howled in pain at the contact with the unbreakable shield and took a few steps back. The arm that it had used to attacked tyranitar was also broken from the backlash of the force from the Hammer Arm.

"Giga Impact!"

Max watched once more as his second pokemon was taken out in the exact same way as his first. The psychic barrier around the arena was broken for the third time that day.

Max started to despair as he recalled Pangoro. Even Pangoro didn't managed to come close in inflicting any damage on tyranitar, and Pangoro was his best bet in taking out that behemoth after hydreigon fell.

He shook his head. No, he cannot falter now. No pokemon is truly invincible. That tyranitar is going down.

If he cannot win this battle with power, then he will win it through other means.

* * *

A krookodile now, huh? It's not a bad choice, krookodiles made their homes in the desert. Kratos's Sand Stream had basically turned the entire arena into a desert by now, so sending krookodile out to face Kratos is indeed a good choice. They can both fight in an environment that suits them best.

"Focus Blast!"

The krookodile charged up a massive Focus Blast and sent it towards Kratos, who destroyed it before the attack can reach him with an overpowered Dark Pulse. Kratos probably didn't even feel winded from unleashing that massive Dark Pulse. He has tons of powers at his disposal once he became a tyranitar.

A Grass Knot tried to trip Kratos but he burned it off with a Flamethrower before sending the flames at the krookodile once more. The krookodile responded with beams of Dark Pulse, each one stronger than the next. Did the krookodile powered up somehow? I wasn't aware that krookodile knew moves that can power up ranged attacks. In fact, if my memory serves me right, krookodile are pretty abysmal in ranged attacks and prefer to finish their foes by crushing them with their huge jaws, yet this krookodile went against its instincts and decided to shoot Focus Blasts and Dark Pulses instead, even without orders from its trainer.

A huge Incinerate was belched out from the krookodile as it attempted to burn Kratos, but Kratos merely snuffed out the flames with his sand. Something is very wrong here. This krookodile had many chances to attack Kratos with its ground type moves, yet it didn't do so. Why? It's like this krookodile isn't even a krookodile. It simply doesn't fight like one.

"Kratos, Earthquake! Destroy the entire area!"

If my opponent doesn't want to show his hand, I will force him to.

Kratos smashed his foot down onto the ground and immediately the entire stadium shook from the impact. Even I have to hold onto the handrails to prevent myself from falling down onto the ground.

The krookodile yelped from the attack and tried to get back up. Kratos charged towards the krookodile, his claws brimming with the fighting type energy needed to utilise Brick Break.

In an unexpected show of agility, the krookodile ducked and jumped over each of Kratos's attacks. One swipe of Kratos's claws got too close to it, and the krookodile deflected it with a Night Slash.

No, that's not right. The krookodile species cannot learn Night Slash despite being a dark type. Whatever this pokemon is, it is not a krookodile. No wonder there are so many discrepancies.

"Watch out, Kratos! That pokemon is not a krookodile! Keep up the pressure, force it to show its true self!"

Kratos kept up with the ferocity of his attack and finally managed to get a glancing blow onto the 'krookodile', who was pushed back and skidded backwards from the impact.

A fox-like pokemon with sleek black fur revealed itself and snarled at Kratos as it fired off huge blasts of Focus Blasts that is too powerful to be possible. It must have powered up with a Calm Mind or Nasty Plot several times for this to happen.

I watched as Kratos defended himself from the Focus Blasts with another Protect before charging back in with a Stone Edge. A zoroark, now everything makes sense. We had been fighting with a zoroark all along. Zororarks are unable to learn any ground type moves other than Dig, so it was unable to properly imitate a krookodile, and hence that weird style of fighting. Now that its cover is busted, it gives me an advantage. I now know what pokemon I can possibly expect to face after this.

Kratos's Stone Edge nailed the zoroark squarely in its chest as it gave a pained howl. The zoroark tried to use Payback, but Kratos simply pushed it back with overwhelming force by using another Giga Impact.

Kratos really loves that move for some reason.

Kratos commanded the sands to wrap around zoroark and attempted to crush the illusion fox pokemon into paste. Seeing that his zoroark has no way of getting out of there, Max was forced to give up this fight, making this the third fight we won for this battle.

From what I can see, it looks like none of Max's pokemon can truly pose a threat to Kratos once his hydreigon is down. He was too confident in his hydreigon's abilities and he rely too much on his hydreigon for difficult battles.

Kratos roared in victory as he took in the applause and cheers that the crowd is giving him. I scratched my chin in thought. On one hand, I want to let Kratos continue rampaging until all six of my opponent's pokemons are down. It's obvious that my opponent for this battle doesn't have any more pokemons that are on his hydreigon's level. On the other hand, Toothless will get so very grumpy when he learnt that Kratos had managed to get himself into a battle even before he did. But if I sent out Toothless, I will be showing my hand unnecessarily early. Do I want to deal with a grumpy Toothless? Is the secrecy worth it?

A _real_ krookodile appeared for battle this time. It may be another zoroark, but I doubt that this is the case. Zoroarks are rare. Kratos looked happy to face the real deal in battle, but I gave him a clap to get his attention on me.

"Sorry, Kratos, but Toothless needs to get his own share of fun too."

Kratos gave me a look that makes it seem as if I just did an act of betrayal.

"You had your fun. It's Toothless's turn now."

Kratos grumbled as he kicked up some sand childishly with his foot in a display of tantrum. The krookodile had took this time to close the distance, jaws snapping and his claws charging with power as it tried to bring Kratos down with what is undoubtedly a Brick Break.

"Fine. One attack. Then you are going back into your pokeball, deal?"

Kratos begrudgingly turned back to face krookodile, who is now dangerously near him, but Kratos doesn't even seem to register its presence.

At the very last second, Kratos suddenly twisted his body and proceeded to send the krookodile flying backwards with a powerful swing of Aqua Tail.

I rolled my eyes as Kratos had the satisfied look on his face for punting krookodile halfway across the arena and sent out Toothless, who took to the skies immediately and the sunlight got harsh with his use of Sunny Day. I shouted to Toothless, hoping he can hear me from where he is high up in the air.

"Have fun, Toothless! Kratos already took out three of them! The last three are yours!"

I heard Toothless giving a loud roar in acknowledgement before diving back into the arena like a flaming meteor as he cloaked himself in flames, ramming into krookodile with a Flare Blitz, who used its arms to block and defend itself from Toothless's attacks.

Toothless roared and unleashed an Inferno at point blank, bathing krookodile with his hot flames. Krookodile tried to get Toothless with a Smack Down, but Toothless was faster and punched him with a powerful Fire Punch that got the krookodile stumbling. Krookodile jumped backwards and tried to cage Toothless with a Rock Tomb. Toothless spread out his wings and it glowed a metallic sheen as he destroyed the rocks with Steel Wing from where he is standing on the ground.

Krookodile shot out a Dark Pulse before heading back in with a Foul Play upon the commands from his trainer. Toothless destroyed the Dark Pulse with a Flamethrower and waited for krookodile to come to him as he spread his wings and braced himself.

Toothless caught onto krookodile's arms and they began to wrestle in a contest of strength. Krookodile tried to bite Toothless with Crunch, but Toothless spat his flames at krookodile's face instead. Another Fire Punch from Toothless had krookodile's head snapping upwards from the blow as Toothless punched its jaws from below. Toothless grabbed onto krookodile's tail and proceeded to drag it upwards into the sky with him.

I really shouldn't have taught Toothless Sky Drop. Now all he does in battle is to try and pull this move off on whoever he is facing, simply because he thinks it is fun to do so. Kratos wasn't very happy at being pulled into the air with Toothless during their spars.

Krookodile was sent speeding down into the ground like a missile and a large cloud of dust was kicked up from the impact. Toothless remained in the air as he quickly charged up a Solar Beam and fired it at the location where krookodile landed, snatching us our fourth win for this battle.

Toothless's next foe is a massive drapion that immediately belched out massive waves of Sludge Bombs at Toothless, who either dodged them or burned them down even before they reached him. Toothless roared in delight as he used a Flame Burst that caused the ground below drapion to violently erupt in flames.

Rocks suddenly appeared in the air around Toothless and rained down on his location. Toothless used an Iron Tail to destroy the waves of Rock Tomb, but was caught by surprise when the drapion jumped into the air from the ground and knocked Toothless down into the ground with a Brutal Swing using its tail.

Toothless roared in pain upon landing and it was then I realised that drapion had set up Toxic Spikes in the short moment our vision of it was obscured from Toothless flames.

"Toothless, Façade!"

Toothless slashed at drapion which caused it to take a few steps back and hissed in pain. Drapion recovered quickly and slashed back at Toothless with Cross Poison, who unleashed a Fire Blast just at that exact moment and pushed drapion back from the impact.

Waves of Air Slashes bombard drapion as Toothless took into the air again. Toothless did a Swords Dance in the sky and cloaked himself in flames once more before diving back in.

Toothless homed in at drapion with Flare Blitz, who is trying very hard to prevent Toothless's charge with any ranged attacks it can throw out at the moment, but any attacks were burnt off by the heat around Toothless even before they reached him.

The resulting explosion when Toothless finally made contact with drapion is beautiful. Even the rocks and sands around the area melted from the heat and the red-hot flames from Toothless's Flare Blitz flickered lazily around the surrounding area. Toothless stood over his fallen foe, roaring his victory for the entire stadium to hear.

I smiled. This battle really showcased the strength of the powerhouses of my team. Everyone will be wary of me now. It's pretty clear by now that I am a Generalist, and not only will the other remaining participants have to think of ways to deal with Dolly, who they used to think is the main threat to their team, they now have to think of ways to deal with Kratos and Toothless.

I haven't even introduced Snap to the conference. There is also Bigblue and Lily, and none of them are pushovers.

The last pokemon Max sent out gave me a slight chill in my bones the moment it appeared for battle.

A spiritomb howled a ghostly cry as it faced Toothless and immediately used a Nasty Plot followed by shooting off Dark Pulses at him. Toothless flew into the air and destroyed the attacks with Air Slash.

"Toothless, Fire Spin!"

Toothless's flames wrapped around the ghost pokemon, but the spiritomb got out of its confinement with a Shadow Sneak and Shadow Balls flew out of its opened mouth towards Toothless. Toothless detonated all of them prematurely with a Heat Wave and flew towards spiritomb, flames burning within his mouth and waiting to be unleashed.

Spiritomb tried to get away with a Shadow Sneak, but Toothless is much faster than Spiritomb and cut off its escape with a Shadow Claw. Toothless opened his mouth wide, and unleashed a _Blast Burn_ in close proximity to spiritomb, much to my horror.

I screamed and crouched down while covering my head with my hands together with the rest of the crowd as the huge explosion from the attack not only caused the psychic barrier to fizzle out and the stadium to shake for the umpteenth time that day, but it also partially melted the protective walls around the arena, the last defense for the audiences against any stray attacks that might broke through the psychic barrier.

The sound of the mighty flap of wings prompted me to look up, and I saw Toothless landing beside me on the challenger's box. The space is just big enough to accommodate the both of us and the battle is obviously over.

But my scolding to Toothless had only just started.

"Toothless! I didn't give you permission to use Blast Burn! I told you many times, didn't I?! No using of such destructive attacks until I give you the all clear or unless it's a life and death situation! First Kratos have to purposely break the barrier _twice_ , and now you! I swear, I am going to get grey hairs even before I reach fifteen! I still have Snap's Draco Meteor to look out for! Can you guys just give me a break?!"

Toothless looked a little sheepish, but he is definitely unapologetic about it as he scratched behind his ears with his hind legs like how Fang does and dig his ears with one of his claws. He even has the cheek to yawn. I scowled, and continue to berate him for his reckless behaviour.

"I know you have been waiting a long time to battle, but this is too much! You need to learn how to control yourself in your excitement! What if your Blast Burn didn't make contact with the spiritomb? You will be a sitting duck down there!"

Toothless just shrugged and pointed to arena, which now have a deep trench in the shape of a massive cone gouged out from the Blast Burn. It's like he is saying, 'I got the job done, didn't I?'

"Now look here, Toothless. This-"

"You killed my spiritomb."

"Huh?"

I turned around and saw my opponent, Max, crouching down in the middle of the arena and holding spiritomb's keystone with trembling hands. Tears streamed down his face and he pointed an accusing at me from down below in the arena.

"Your charizard killed my spiritomb! That Blast Burn was uncalled for! My… my spiritomb…. It's gone! Return me my spiritomb!"

"Uh… hold on… I mean…" How do I explain this? Ghosts don't die from anything short of a dark type or ghost type moves according to Agatha. Blast Burn is a fire type move, there's no way the spiritomb is dead. It's physical form is temporarily destroyed and dissipated, but in no way is it dead.

Max marched up to me and gripped me by my shoulders and shook me violently.

"Give me back my spiritomb!"

Toothless roared and grabbed Max with his claws, pulling him away from me.

"Toothless! Put him down!" I quickly ordered Toothless to drop Max. I don't need Toothless to murder someone in his protective rage.

The shock from being grabbed by Toothless seemed to snap Max back to reality. I glared at Toothless, who very reluctantly dropped Max down onto the floor, before I turn my attention back to Max.

"Look. You obviously have very little understanding about ghosts." I said as I glared at Max. I don't appreciate being physically shaken like that. "The only way a ghost can die is if it was hit by a fatal dark type or ghost type move, and Blast Burn does not fall into any of the two categories. Your spiritomb isn't dead. It's physical form is merely destroyed and dissipated, that's all. Give it some time to reform its body. So long as that keystone is with you, it should come back to you someday. The stronger the ghost, the shorter the time a ghost needs to reform its body. Your spiritomb isn't weak by any means, so you probably don't need to wait for very long. Got it?"

Max just stared at me with his jaws hanging, I think he is still in a state of shock. I mentally sighed and used my hand to close his mouth shut, put my hands on the side of his head, and make him nod his head with my hands.

"This is the time that you should say: I got it now, Velda. Sorry for shaking you like that."

I dropped my hands from his head and walked off to exit the stadium. I think I can now understand Agatha's frustration regarding the public's lack of knowledge about ghosts. It's annoying as hell. Maybe I should suggest to her to write a textbook about ghosts and publish it for the entire world to read. It might cure the world of its ignorance about ghosts.

Toothless picked me up and let me sit on one of his arms.

"Are you ok? You were poisoned by drapion's Toxic Spikes."

Toothless just snorted and carry on walking.

"That way, Toothless." I said as I pointed to our left. "Both you and Kratos need to get yourselves checked at the pokemon centre."

Toothless tried to ignore me and carry on walking to wherever he wants to go and escape the medical checkup from the nurses there.

"I will ban your marshmallows. I'm still mad at you for that Blast Burn."

I grinned as Toothless immediately changed his direction and walked towards where the pokemon centre is. The crowd around us made way for us as Toothless's big size easily parted the sea of people.

Glad to know that I still have it in me to handle Toothless's misbehaviour.

* * *

 **AN: I was reading the latest on Traveller and the fight between Cynthia's Lucario and Infernus (Ash's magmortar in the story) had my blood pumping, and it motivated me enough to write out Kratos's battle since I have a few hours free. Luckily it didn't take me long to get this chapter out. When I was first planning the conference arc, Kratos battling with a hydreigon was the first thing that came to my mind, and I'm glad that I finally have the chance to write it out.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**


	25. Chapter 25- Reactions

A prompt from Rena's telepathy caused me to look up from where I am sitting on a chair in an isolated corner of the pokemon centre while waiting for the nurses there to check up on Dolly, Toothless and Kratos. A familiar mop of messy brown hair walked through the crowd before the owner of said hair plopped himself down beside me.

"Vance? What are you doing here?"

"Can't I just come here to cheer my little sister on?" Vance said as he ruffled my hair with a single hand which I quickly batted away. I just got my hair nicely combed!

"Pretty sure that you said you were busy with duties." I replied as I tried to straighten my hair which Vance had just messed up.

"Well, I am on duty. But nobody said that I cannot be cheering my sister on at the same time."

I stared at Vance for a short while before my brain clicked in realisation.

ACE is protecting Ever Grande City while the Ever Grande Conference is ongoing. They don't want a repeat of what happened to Lilycove.

"Seems like you got it. Keep it to yourself, yeah? Wallace was kind enough to assign me here so that I can watch your battles while going about doing patrols and searching for any suspicious people. I am taking a short break at the moment. Great job with the battle, by the way. Kratos was awesome, and so was Toothless."

"Thanks." I said absentmindedly before my eyes looked from the top of Vance's head down to his feet before going back up to his head again.

"Aren't you supposed to be in uniform or something?"

"Eh, it's better for us to be in plain clothes for this kind of situations. Don't want to freak people out needlessly from the paranoia if they see people from ACE walking about in their uniforms. The Lilycove incident is still fresh for most people out there. The public presence of the LSDF is enough to reassure the public for now. ACE will do its job from the shadow."

"You make it sound as if you are a ninja or something."

"Hey, I am a cool ninja." Vance retorted. "I get myself in all sorts of cool situations in ACE all the time to do my job. Did you know that I just returned from infiltrating an underground illegal betting ring in this city to gather information about the underworld? How cool is that?" He rummaged through his pocket before fishing out a large wad of cash with an even larger smile on his face.

"Everyone there were betting on who would win for every battle. The best part of it is that I won so much too! Thanks, Vel! You sure know how to make your brother happy!" Vance said giddily as he waved the wad of cash happily in front of my face.

I gave Vance a disbelieving stare.

"You… You went to gamble while on duty?! Illegally?! And you betted on me?"

"How else am I supposed to gather information from that kind of place there? You can't possibly walk in there and expect to get out without placing a bet or two. The people there will get suspicious. At least we now know from the thugs there that they didn't see any other suspicious activities or suspicious people that entered Ever Grande for now. That gives us a peace of mind. We were afraid that the magmas or aquas will try to collude with some of the underworld forces." He then turned serious before speaking again.

"Make sure at least one of your pokemon is by your side at all times, ok? Things should be safe throughout the entire duration of the conference and with the amount of LSDF and ACE here, but just in case."

"I got it." I reassured my brother as I stroke Rena's sleek fur, who is currently resting on my lap.

"Good." Vance looked satisfied by my answer as he went to put back that fat wad of cash into his pocket, only to pause his action when I held out my palm in front of him.

"What?"

"Half." I said as I beckoned with my fingers with my palm still held in front of him. "I want half of your winnings."

"No way!" Vance exclaimed comically as he clutched the money close to his chest in a protective manner. "That's my hard-earned money!"

"Money that you won because _I_ win my battle. I did all the work. Need I say that the money that you won is won through _illegal betting_? I wonder what Mum will say?"

Vance visibly paled in horror at my words.

"This is blackmail and outright extortion!"

"This is just me claiming what is rightfully mine." I replied cheekily and suddenly moved to snatch the cash out of his hand. Vance moved to grab it back, but Rena put up a small shield of Reflect that bounced his hand away from me.

"Vel! Have mercy!"

I purposely hummed a merry tune under my breath as I quickly counted the money with my fingers. Satisfied with the amount I withdraw for myself, I returned the balance back to Vance.

Vance's expression dropped even more when he recounted the money that he received back from me.

"This is only about 30% of what I won!"

"The extra 20% is for the extra service and admin charges that I deducted from your share." I replied with no sense of shame as I pocketed the 70% into my own pocket. "Be glad that I only charge you 20%."

Vance sputtered at the outright unreasonableness.

" _What_ service and admin charge?! Vel! My money!"

Nope. Not returning it back to him. Vance is already loaded with money anyway. Surely he can spare some cash for his cute and adorable little sister, right?

* * *

 **[LizaXD]:** Hey anyone just watched Vel's battle?

 **[LizaXD]:** Hello?

 **[LizaXD]:** Anyone thereeeeeeeeee

 **[LizaXD]:** Am I the only one who is watching it ಥ_ಥ

 **[Wattsup]:** WAHAHA I just watched that battle too! Vel is amazing!

 **[Wattsup]:** (ง°ل͜°)ง

 **[Wattsup]:** Did you see the battle with her pachirisu? I taught her how to train her pachirisu to use magnet rise to fly!

 **[Wattsup]:** Still can't believe that she actually managed to do it though

 **[Wattsup]:** Should I catch a pachirisu to try it out?

 **[Wattsup]:** Hmmm

 **[Flan]:** You should see how Toothless destroy the spiritomb with that blast burn. I taught her that move

 **[FTWinona]:** I taught Vel how to teach her charizard how to fly.

 **[Flan]:** The blast burn was more epic

 **[FTWinona]:** So was the aerial manoeuvres that I taught her

 **[LizaXD]:** Hey her espeon was gd too! Tate and I taught Vel how to train psychics!

 **[LizaXD]: ̿̿** ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\з= ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) =ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

 **[Rockxanne]:** Stop fighting children

 **[Rockxanne]:** No one can argue that the most epic pokemon was her tyranitar. **I** helped her come up with the idea to control the sands

 **[Rockxanne]:** (｡◕‿‿◕｡)

 **[Flan]:** ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 **[Flan]:** Can't argue with you about that one

 **[FTWinona]:** ﴾͡๏̯͡๏﴿ O'RLY?

 **[Rockxanne]:** Really

 **[FTWinona]:** Can't believe that pupitar got so strong. It's been like only half a year or so since I saw it

 **[Rockxanne]:** She got the best rock type teacher teaching her

 **[Rockxanne]:** (¬‿¬)

 **[Wattsup]:** Did everyone just ignore the fact that her PACHIRISU can **FLY**

 **[Wattsup]:** (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 **[Juanism]:** Young ppl these days

 **[Juanism]:** Just wait till Vel's swampert comes out. She got the best water type teacher teaching her

 **[Juanism]:** ¯\\(°_o)/¯

 **[Juanism]:** addqwead

 **[Juanism]:** Sry I am still figuring out how to use it

 **[Juanism]:** How do you use these things?

 **[Juanism]:** The emoji thing

 **[LizaXD]:** Hello Juan! Just select the one that you want to use!

 **[LizaXD]:** We totally should start our own sticker pack!

 **[LizaXD]:** ｡◕‿◕｡

 **[LizaXD]:** (˚▽˚)

 **[TaTe]:** Liza. Stop spamming

 **[TaTe]:** My phone won't stop buzzing and I am in the middle of a meeting with the town mayor right now

 **[LizaXD]:** I know

 **[TaTe]:** ==

 **[LizaXD]:** :3

 **[LizaXD]:** ~(˘▾˘~)

 **[Juanism]:** How did you get so many of the emoji things

 **[Juanism]:** Why can't I find them?

 **[Juanism]:** I only have this one ¯\\(°_o)/¯

 **[LizaXD]:** O.O

 **[LizaXD]:** Old people these days

 **[LizaXD]:** Sigh

 **[Wattsup]:** OI

 **[Wattsup]:** I AM NOT OLD YET

 **[FTWinona]:** Your hair's already white

 **[Flan]:** You are about the same age as my grandpa

 **[Rockxanne]:** What they said

 **[Wattsup]:** ◉_◉

 **[Juanism]:** ٩◔̯◔۶

 **[Juanism]:** Something like this?

 **[Juanism]:** OH

 **[Juanism]:** I get it now

 **[** **Rockxanne** **]:** FINALLY

( _TaTe_ had just left the group)

 **[Flan]:** Whats wrong with your brother

 **[LizaXD]:** He said we were too noisy

 **[Rockxanne]:** Quick! Just add him back in!

 **[Wattsup]:** Whos the admin?

 **[FTWinona]:** Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** WAIT

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman is the admin all along?!

 **[LizaXD]:** Legasp

 **[Flan]:** Our chat group name is Hoenn Gym Leaders Chat Group

 **[Flan]:** Who else is able to come up with such a boring name

 **[Flan]:** Even his username is boring

 **[Wattsup]:** His username is as normal as his name!

 **[Wattsup]:** Get it? HAHAHAHA

 **[Flan]:** …

 **[Flan]:** Ok

 **[LizaXD]:** I want to be admin!

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** Norman

( _LizaXD_ has been promoted to admin)

 **[LizaXD]:** YAY

 **[LizaXD]:** Ty Norman

 **[LizaXD]:** (◕‿◕✿)

 **[Norman]:** Np

 **[Wattsup]:** HE SPEAKS

 **[FTWinona]:** The balance god has spoken

 **[Flan]:** Maybe that is his wife using his phone?

 **[Rockxanne]:** The world is ending

 **[Juanism]:** This is indeed a rare occurrence

 **[Norman]:** You guys are insufferable

 **[Norman]:** And I taught Vel for eight months

 **[Norman]:** I deserve most of the credit in training her

 **[Wattsup]:** HE SPEAKS AGAIN

 **[Wattsup]:** TODAY IS A LUCKY DAY I NEED TO GO AND BUY A LOTTERY TICKET

 **[Wattsup]:** BRB

 **[Flan]:** LOL

 **[FTWinona]:** XD

( _TaTe_ has been added to the group)

(The group name has been changed to ' (ﾟヮﾟ )BEST GYM LEADERS EVERヾ(⌐■_■)ノ ')

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate

( _TaTe_ had just left the group)

( _TaTe_ has been added to the group)

 **[Rockxanne]:** Lol Liza

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate ignored me…

 **[LizaXD]:** He says that he will throw my phone away when he comes back

 **[LizaXD]:** Sobs TT

 **[LizaXD]:** Why can't I have a brother as caring as Vel

 **[Flan]:** I tht he is at a meeting right now

 **[Flan]:** How did he talk to you

 **[FTWinona]:** They are psychics lol. Telepathy

 **[FTWinona]:** #psychics

 **[Rockxanne]:** It always kinda slip my mind that they can do that

 **[Flan]:** ^

 **[LizaXD]:** Muahaha you guys will never be as cool as me and tate

 **[LizaXD]:** Btw

 **[LizaXD]:** We should totally have a meetup!

 **[LizaXD]:** A gym leaders gathering!

 **[LizaXD]:** (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

 **[Juanism]:** That sounds like a nice idea

 **[Flan]:** If we do have the time

 **[FTWinona]:** The gym circuit is temporarily closed for now anyway thanks to the EGC

 **[FTWinona]:** How about sometime next week? Just some nice R&R

 **[** **Rockxanne** **]:** Sure

 **[Flan]:** Ok!

 **[Wattsup]:** I got my lottery ticket wahaha!

 **[Wattsup]:** Im fine with a meetup wahahaha!

 **[Norman]:** I should be free as well

 **[Juanism]:** I can host

 **[Juanism]:** ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

 **[Juanism]:** Oh I get it now

 **[Juanism]:** (ᵔᴥᵔ)

 **[Juanism]:** ~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

 **[LizaXD]:** Welcome to the wonderful world of emojis!

 **[LizaXD]:** Tate and I will be there too. Thanks Juan for hosting!

 **[Juanism]:** I will confirm the date again. Will get back to everyone asap.

 **[LizaXD]:** Ok :D

 **[LizaXD]:** Wheres Brawly anyway?

 **[LizaXD]:** BRAWLYYYYYYYYY

* * *

Roxanne turned to her boyfriend, who is lying next to her on his bed. The period where the annual Ever Grande Conference is being held is the only downtime where the both of them can spend some quality time together without the burden of their duties as gym leaders.

Brawly had been watching the entire conversation all along like she did, and he quickly typed to confirm his attendance for the meetup Liza proposed.

"Something on your mind?"

Roxanne asked as she leaned in closer to Brawly. The both of them were having a movie marathon in his room until the chat group started buzzing with messages. Brawly isn't usually so quiet in the chat group.

"Uh…" Brawly rubbed the side of his neck sheepishly, but quickly answered his girlfriend's question upon seeing the look she is giving him.

"It's just that… How do I put it?" He ran a hand through his messy hair. "It's like everyone has a role to play in helping Vel while I… you know…"

Roxanne blinked in surprise. She wasn't expecting that Brawly is still feeling a little bad over how he treated Vel during their initial meeting.

"She was already very capable when she started her circuit. More capable than most novice trainers out there." Roxanne said to Brawly to ease his guilt. "She didn't really need much help from us in the first place."

"I know, but she still turned to you guys for help for training tips and stuffs right? I am the second gym leader of the gym circuit, my job is supposed to help novice trainers with their pokemon journey and look I what I did to Vel. So many trainers come to me for tips on how to train their pokemon but she didn't come to me. I must have messed up so badly."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Roxanne tapped his nose playfully with a single finger. "At least you learnt from it and you were a great help to many trainers after her. As for why Vel never approached you for training tips, it's likely because she does not have a fighting type on her team."

Brawly looked at her as if he had just heard the most unbelievable thing ever.

"How can anyone _not_ have a fighting type on their team?! Every Generalist should at least have a fighting type on their team!"

Brawly began to furrow his brows and start to murmur under his breath.

"Maybe I can give her one of the fighting types I have? I have too many on hand right now and need to give some away anyway. I wonder what fighting type is more suitable for her team? A meditite? Maybe a shroomish? Makuhita maybe? Or maybe if I should ask my friends to see if they have more exotic fighting types?"

"Uh… Brawly." Roxanne cut off her boyfriend's train of thoughts before it went on and on. "I'm not sure if you knew about it, but do you remember that Vel was involved in the Lilycove invasion?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"She was nearly killed by a machamp. Maybe that is why she didn't get a fighting type on her team. I won't be surprised if she developed some form of PTSD after experiencing that attack."

Brawly froze before his jaws dropped in realisation.

"Oh."

"I'm not too sure either, it is just a guess." Roxanne quickly supplied. "It can also be that she never thought of getting one before. Maybe you could ask her after the conference is over? If she is working to be a Generalist, then it will help if she at least own one pokemon of each type. It's what most Generalists do. Maybe you could help her with choosing a suitable fighting type for her if she needs one."

Brawly quickly brightened up and Roxanne mentally breathed out a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Brawly would sulk for the rest of the day otherwise if he cannot get over his guilt.

Still, Roxanne cannot help but feel a sense of pride swelling within her. She still remembered how excited she was when she first watched Vel's latest battle through the TV.

Her tyranitar was _amazing_. What Vel's tyranitar managed to do is a result of many phone calls from Vel to Roxanne which led to many discussions on various theories and speculations about rock type techniques, the move Sandstorm, and the Sand Stream ability. Sand Stream allows the user to summon Sandstorm with their presence alone, and since Sandstorm is classified as a rock type move, Vel had come to her for help.

Vel is like her little protégé at this point and as Vel's mentor, she is very proud of Vel's progress.

She can't wait to see what else Vel has in store for her upcoming matches.

* * *

"Dad? Mum?"

"Yes, honey, it's us. Why are you so surprised?"

I quickly let my parents into the room where I am temporarily staying at for the entire duration of the conference. They weren't supposed to be here yet until sometime later.

"I thought you guys were only free much later."

"We managed to arrange our schedule so that we can make it." Dad replied as he sat down on my bed. "Wouldn't miss our baby girl's first conference for anything in the world."

"Your Dad and I will be staying in a hotel until the whole conference is over. Just come find us whenever you are free." Mum said as she handed me a name card with the hotel's name and contact details on it.

"Actually, I am free now." I admitted. "Just let me get dressed and we can go find something fun to do."

Five minutes later, the three of us are walking down the streets of Ever Grande City and taking in the sights. There is a temporary bazaar nearby where things are being sold and there are also stalls which serves Hoenn's famous delicacies. There are some from other regions as well, which we are more interested in. I got myself a Cinnabar Volcanic Milkshake while Mum got herself some Snowpoint Ice Cream. Rena walked by my side as Fuzzy perched on my shoulder as always. Dolly chose to reside in my shadow, although she pokes her head out every now and then if something interesting catches her eye.

"So how high are you aiming for?" Dad asked as we found a bench to sit and rest after walking for an hour.

"At least the top 4." I replied absentmindedly as I munched on some Goldenrod Miltank Cream Puffs. "I don't know if I can go any higher beyond that. Actually, I don't even know if I can win my next battle. My next opponent is going to be a tough one from what I found out."

"I'm sure you will do just fine." Mum reassured me as she tore a small piece of her waffle to feed it to Fuzzy, who took it gratefully.

"Don't keep feeding Fuzzy, Mum. He's getting fatter. Look." I used a finger to poke at Fuzzy's bulging tummy, who squeaked in indignation at my words.

"You keep feeding Macky."

"Macky's a ghost. Ghosts don't get fat."

A sudden buzzing of my xtransceiver caught out attention and I looked to see who had sent me a message.

"Who is it?" Dad asked as he sipped on his drink.

"Agatha. I only just realised from my previous match that there is a really huge knowledge vacuum among the training populace regarding ghosts in general. Ignorance is a really dangerous thing, Dad. So I decided to see if Agatha is willing to make a textbook out of her knowledge about ghosts. I think doing something like that may help save lives if anyone ever run into a vicious ghost. I didn't have her contact number, so I asked Roxanne to help me ask around. Turns out Brawly had her number since we went to Kanto to train under Bruno a few years back."

"And what did Agatha say?"

"Let me see." I said as I opened up the message, and then groan after reading it.

"She wants me to help her, saying that she is too old for this shit." I facepalmed as I continue reading. "She says that if she has to write a textbook for dummies about ghosts, then she will handle the complicated and advanced stuffs, and that I can help her by writing about the basic stuffs about ghosts."

"That isn't a bad thing, Vel." Mum said as she read the message from the cranky old woman. "At least she has confidence in you to at least get the basic knowledge about ghosts right. To be recognised by someone as esteemed as her is something to be proud of."

"You haven't met her in the flesh." I muttered as I continue to munch on my next cream puff. "She can be really cranky, and she kept hitting the top of my head with her cane whenever I got something wrong when she was teaching me. I only spent one day with her and already I'm more afraid of her cane than anything else." My free hand went up to massage my head. I can already imagine the phantom pains from her cane hitting my head just by thinking about it.

"A textbook about ghosts for trainers, written by Agatha. This is bound to create a massive reaction from the world." Dad mused. "Not many Pokemon Masters bothered to share their knowledge with the public, and most of the available textbooks are long since outdated. It is time for a change."

"I am already regretting my decision." I stated as I let my imagination run wild. "I can already imagine handing her my first draft and she will take a red pen before circling every single mistake that I made. Her two gengars will be beside her while using Explosion just for fun with that typical gengar-ish laughter."

"That is oddly specific. And using Explosion just for fun?" Mum asked with a confused expression on her face.

"They are ghosts." I replied with a shrug. "They have a very different definition of fun. Just ask Dolly." My shadow moved in acknowledgement at my words as Dolly cackled from within it.

"Just don't tell Macky to explode for fun." Dad shuddered before continuing. "I don't want Macky or Vance to think that using Explosion anytime they want is a fun thing to do if they learn about it. Vance will probably somehow turn it into a training regiment for Macky to learn how to chain Explosions repeatedly without rest."

Mum and I paused and tried to imagine what Dad just said. The worst part is that it is very likely that this is exactly what the both of them would do if they knew about it.

I think my parents and I just came to a unanimous decision that we are definitely not letting Vance and Macky meet Agatha's gengars no matter what.

* * *

 **AN: A chill chapter before the more exciting battles (I hope). This chapter is mainly a chapter to show the reactions of various people towards Vel's performance in the conference so far. One of you actually guessed correctly in the reviews that this is what I was planning to do and I was kind of surprised.**

 **Remember when I asked you guys for suggestions about the next pokemon to join Vel's team? I decided to take the suggestion from one of you guys and add that particular pokemon into her team. I haven't seen that pokemon being used in fanfics before so I decided to give it a try. All I can say about that pokemon is that given that pokemon's movelist, it will be a pokemon that is very versatile with what it is able to learn and do. I think it will be a great addition to Vel's team. That pokemon won't appear until the end of the EGC arc though.**

 **I'm not sure if FFnet is able to support text faces since some of the faces require certain fonts to be displayed. The document manager didn't support certain faces and I cannot use the 'at' sign, which kinds of remove some of the realism in the chat. I wanted to write a conversation between the gym leaders in their own group chat, but a chat without any form of emojis sounds unlikely. Obviously FFnet cannot support emojis, so I used text faces as a substitute and hope that it works. The way I wrote the conversation is from my experience in using Whatsapp and Telegram. It's kind of interesting to write in this manner although I had to think real hard on what username each gym leader will choose. I purposely made it such that the gym leaders talked a little differently from how they are usually around others in public since it is their own private chat and there is no need to live up to the expectations of being a gym leader around their colleagues since they are all of equal status. I think it is more realistic that way. I know many people who talked differently when you converse with them face to face as compared to when you talked to them through a screen. I don't see why gym leaders will be any different since they are humans too.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**


	26. Chapter 26- Unbelievably Normal

I can't believe this. Flamel is getting himself toyed around.

By a _furret_.

That furret is too nimble and quick on its feet. It can weave itself between Flamel's legs to dodge his physical attacks and any attempts by Flamel to burn down the entire battlefield is countered by the furret's Surf. The furret had also set up a Rain Dance, decreasing the power of Flamel's flames.

The opposing trainer, Amy Rose from Goldenrod City and a Normal Specialist, commanded her furret to use a Shadow Claw and it struck a critical blow on Flamel, but Flamel endured it and hit the furret with a Smart Strike, finally connecting an attack onto that furret.

"Furret, Whirlpool!"

 _What?_

To my surprise, the furret actually managed to call upon a Whirlpool and swallowed Flamel up with the large vortex of water. Flamel broke through it with a Flare Blitz and used a Sunny Day to disperse the Rain Clouds before using a Morning Sun to heal himself.

The furret scampered towards Flamel once more, nimbly dodging each and every blasts of fire from Flamel as he too sped around the arena to keep his distance from the annoying furret.

"Shock Wave!"

The furret sent out a blast of lightning upon its trainer's command and I quickly commanded Flamel.

"Flamethrower, shoot it down! Then Agility!"

Flamel did as I told and destroyed the Shock Wave with a Flamethrower before raising its speed to insane levels with Agility. Even I am unable to see his form clearly. Right now, Flamel is a red blur on the arena below.

"Furret, Agility too!"

The long and skinny rodent began to also speed up to match Flamel's speed and I clicked my tongue in annoyance. This isn't going well for us.

"Quick Attack and Slash!"

The furret dashed off like a missile and home in on Flamel. I hope what I plan on doing next will work.

"Flamel, Protect! Then Will-O-Wisp!"

Furret slammed itself into Flamel's protect and hissed in pain from the contact with the greenish shield. Flamel took this chance to inflict a burn onto the furret, who retaliated with an Aqua Tail.

"Inferno!"

Flamel unleashed an Inferno and the furret quickly backed off. It used a Surf to counter the flames before sending in Shadow Balls.

"Furret, increase your speed more. Agility!"

It can speed up _even further_?!

The furret is way faster than Flamel now, who is unable to increase his speed as much as the furret is capable of. This immediately puts us at a disadvantage.

"Brick Break!"

"Smart Strike!"

Furret's Brick Break met Flamel's Smart Strike and the two pokemons leapt away from each other after the initial clash. Flamel will lose at this rate.

"Flamel, return! Go, Lily!"

I can hear the ' _ooohs'_ and ' _ahhhs'_ from the crowd the moment the prehistoric pokemon is released for battle. This is Lily's debut and not many have the chance to see a prehistoric pokemon with their own eyes. Their reactions, while funny, isn't that surprising.

"Lily, Sludge Wave! Spread it out!"

Lily gurgled before spraying a massive wave of oily sludge all over the battlefield. With the entire place coated with that oily sludge, the furret will not be able to run around as it pleased anymore at high speeds unless it wants to slip and fall.

The furret seems to know this too as it immediately looked hesitant at charging in to fight Lily.

"Lily, grab it!"

Lily's tentacles shot out to grab the furret, which quickly used a Flamethrower of its own to defend itself. Lily's tentacles just ignored the flames and went straight for furret, with Lily using Recover simultaneously to heal herself from the damage.

"Stop it with Blizzard!"

"Mirror Coat!"

Furret puffed itself up before exhaling a roaring Blizzard from its mouth. Lily's tentacles spread out and formed a psychic pane of barrier that blocked the incoming Blizzard and reflected the attack back on the furret. This is one of the few ways that Lily and I have devised to fight against ice type moves, although it is not really that useful unless Lily has a quick enough reaction time. The fact that the furret is unable to call upon a massive Blizzard like Juan's kingdra helps too. Our small pane of Mirror Coat would be useless in defending Lily in such scenarios.

The furret squeaked as it quickly ran away from the reflected attack, although part of its tail still got frozen. Lily immediately moved the ground beneath it and used a Stone Edge to attack the furret from below. The attack hit, but subsequent Stone Edges didn't as the furret began to run around at high speeds once again. This time, it used a Surf to wash away the sludge on the arena to free itself from the trap Lily had set.

"Stealth Rock! Then Ancient Power!"

Lily immediately summoned and then planted small, jagged pieces of rocks onto the arena before throwing Ancient Powers at the furret. The furret either dodged them or blasted the rocks to bits with its attacks. Lily may not be able to match the furret in speed, but the furret does not have the necessary firepower to take Lily down either. Lily can outlast almost anyone when it comes to a battle of attrition with her arsenal of recovery moves while the furret will get tired with how fast it is running around trying to get a shot in on Lily. Flamel had also inflicted a burn on it. The furret couldn't possibly last forever out here in battle.

"Furret, Rollout!"

The furret immediately began to curl itself and started to roll about like a tyre with its speed still boosted by Agility and kept circling Lily while getting faster and faster. Is it trying to use the combined momentum from the Rollout and Agility to knock Lily out in one hit?

If that is the case, then they are going to be sorely disappointed.

"Stop its Rollout with Earthquake, then catch it!"

Lily used her powers to shake the ground violently and the furret wobbled before its Rollout came to an abrupt stop. Lily's tentacles immediately lashed out to catch it and wrapped itself around the furret.

This battle is over the moment Lily gets her tentacles on furret with a Constrict.

"Wring out and Giga Drain! End it!"

The furret screamed in pain as Lily did as I commanded. The furret tried to get out with bursts of Thunderbolt and Flamethrower but Lily's defensive powers prevented it from doing any damage.

"Super Fang!"

"Smack Down!"

Lily's tentacles moved even before the furret had a chance to bite her and smashed the furret violently into the ground. The furret lay limp in the small crater below. Lily had just won her first battle in the conference.

"Pidgeot, Hurricane!"

Lily growled upon seeing a flying type as her opponent. She absolutely hates dealing with flying types. I still haven't managed to find out why.

Lily's Stealth Rock serves as nothing more than a brief distraction as pidgeot quickly destroyed the incoming rocks with a Steel Wing before using a Hurricane. Lily raised a dome of rock walls with Stone Edge that withstood the attack. Lily is at a disadvantage here since it will be hard for her to hit pidgeot with the limited ranged moves that she knew while pidgeot can keep firing its attacks at Lily out of harm's way. I considered sending out Snap or Toothless, but for some reason I have a feeling that it will be hard for the two big and bulky fliers to try and catch a pidgeot, which is much smaller and agile than them in the air.

I guess my third flier on the team is the best choice I have right now.

I returned Lily back to her pokeball and patted Fuzzy, who is sitting on my shoulder, to signal him to go out and battle.

Fuzzy squeaked in delight before shooting off into the air with Magnet Rise, his loud and obnoxious squeaking resonating throughout the entire stadium.

"Electro Ball!"

Fuzzy launched balls of electric orbs at the pidgeot, who either dodged them or destroyed them with an Air Slash before Fuzzy's attacks got too close. It proceeded to chase after Fuzzy in the air, who dodged pidgeot's attacks and sent in a Thunder Wave in an attempt to paralyse the huge bird pokemon.

The pidgeot dodged the Thunder Wave with a Detect, and immediately used a Tailwind to raise its speed before producing another Hurricane in an attempt to suck Fuzzy into the rotating force of nature.

"Destroy the Hurricane with Discharge! Then Rain Dance!"

Fuzzy sparked as he gathered the power needed for one huge blast of Discharge, the pidgeot tried to disrupt his attempt with an Air Cutter, but Fuzzy released his powers even before it can do so.

A huge wave of violent wind washed over everyone in the stadium as Fuzzy successfully destroyed the Hurricane. He took the chance from the momentary chaos to fly further up in the air and started his own Rain Dance, creating rain clouds to aid him.

Fuzzy went to hide within the rain clouds and pidgeot paused in its tracks, wary of a sneak attack as it began to rain while flashes of lightning made itself known as well.

"Thunder!"

A large column of electricity struck pidgeot, who squawked before it disappeared within the bright light from the electric attack.

"Hurricane! Blow the clouds away!"

Pidgeot managed to get out unscathed. It probably used a Protect to defend itself from the Thunder. The pidgeot began to create a Hurricane again but there's no way Fuzzy and I will allow it to do that.

"Thunder again!"

More Thunders rained down from the sky and strike at pidgeot repeatedly, who now have to use a combination of Detect, Protect, and Double Team along with some complicated aerial manoeuvres to try and dodge each and every attack from Fuzzy. I can still hear Fuzzy squeaking madly from within the rain clouds and echoing throughout the stadium. Glad to know he's having fun.

"Fly above the clouds! Then Sky Attack to disperse it!"

The pidgeot immediately flew upwards and continue its flight even when one of Fuzzy's Thunder struck it. The pidgeot broke through the rain clouds and everyone else can only use their imagination to visualise what is going on beyond the clouds.

The clouds were forcefully dispersed when pidgeot sped down through it at high speeds with a Sky Attack despite the amount of electricity within the clouds. Fuzzy followed up with numerous Shock Waves that struck true, but pidgeot either ignored it or is somehow physically capable of shrugging off the attacks.

"Heat Wave!"

Pidgeot breathed out a massive wave of hot winds from its mouth as Fuzzy quickly defended himself with a Light Screen before flying away to distance himself from the pidgeot.

"Don't let up! Quick Attack!"

Pidgeot immediately flew after Fuzzy and tried to attack him with its beak, wings, and talons. Fuzzy is doing well so far in dodging and fending off pidgeot's attacks, but I know that Fuzzy is not able to hold his ground for long.

"Electroweb, snare it!"

Fuzzy produced an electric web that managed to capture and snare the pidgeot, causing it to fall to the ground upon getting itself caught since its wings are now pinned.

"Super Fang and Thunder!"

Fuzzy swooped down and bit on pidgeot with his fangs before discharging a huge amount of electricity with Thunder while perching on the pidgeot. Pidgeot tried to heal up its lost health with Roost and to also mitigate the super effective effect of Thunder on it as Roost temporarily took away its flying typing. Nevertheless, the amount of damage Fuzzy dealt out should be more than what pidgeot is capable of healing up.

"Double-Edge! Take out the pachirisu!"

In an unexpected comeback, the pidgeot gave a loud cry before forcefully getting Fuzzy off its back and then smashed its entire body into Fuzzy. Fuzzy flew through the air before coming to a stop on the ground. He got himself knocked unconscious from that attack. The good thing that came out from this is that the pidgeot succumbed to its injuries and is now unconscious too. This round ended in a draw.

I quickly returned Fuzzy and sent out Flamel. Amy released a Lopunny for battle.

"Flamethrower!"

Flamel immediately shot out a cone of flames at Lopunny, who dashed towards the flames upon Amy's command. What are they planning?

"Mirror Coat!"

Flamel's flames got reflected back on him. Luckily, Flamel has the Flash Fire ability so flames have no effect on him. He would have been knocked out otherwise.

The lopunny carried on its charge and used a High Jump Kick that nailed Flamel and sent him crashing into the ground.

"Megahorn!"

Flamel went to jab at the lopunny with his horn and succeeded in keeping it away. Lopunny used a Quick Attack to chain up a combo with Dizzy Punch, but Flamel somehow managed to pull off a Protect to defend himself.

"Flame Charge!"

Flamel coated himself with flames before charging at the lopunny, who is now hopping away to dodge it.

"Water Pulse! Douse it!"

Lopunny created a sphere of water between its paws and sent the Water Pulse at Flamel, who decided to use Bounce to get away from the attack.

"Battering Ram!"

Flamel came crashing down at lopunny's location in a sphere of Protect and forced it to get away. Flamel used a Sunny Day and Inferno combo to bathe the entire arena in flames, hoping to at least catch the bunny pokemon in his flames.

"Power-Up Punch! Take it down!"

Lopunny hopped over the wall of flames with its powerful legs and immediately dashed towards Flamel, who spitted flames at the lopunny to get it to back off. Lopunny extinguished the flames once more with a Water Pulse as it continued its charge. Flamel tensed and lower his horn, knowing that a physical fight is imminent.

"Fury Attack!"

Flamel immediately went to strike at Lopunny with a series of quick jabs of his horn and was successful in forcing it to retreat and keep its distance for a short while. The lopunny then used a Thunderbolt to stun Flamel temporarily, before punching Flamel with a powerful Power-Up Punch.

Flamel is probably going to go down at this rate. The lopunny is not giving him time to heal up with Morning Sun too.

"Overheat!"

"Return!"

Flamel unleashed a massive Overheat in a last-ditch attempt to bring the lopunny down with him or to damage it as much as possible before going down. Lopunny got briefly caught in the flames, but managed to burst through it before striking a powerful blow on Flamel and slammed him into the ground, taking him out.

Ugh. Amy's pokemons may look ordinary, cute looking, and definitely not pokemons that most trainers will even consider using. But her pokemons are definitely well-trained and way stronger than they looked. She is also a Normal Specialist. Normal type pokemons are usually capable of learning a wide range of moves, making them very versatile and unpredictable foes to fight against.

I still think I can win this. I wasn't planning on sending out Kratos and Toothless since I don't want to be like Max and rely on my two strongest members to win every single one of my battles, but I will use them if I have to. Thankfully, I don't think I need to use them yet.

"Lily, grab the lopunny!"

I sent Lily out for battle again as she whipped her tentacles at Lopunny at a rapid pace, who simply hopped out of range.

"Move the earth! Trap it!"

Lily finally began to show what she is capable of as the landscape started to shift and change drastically. The earth itself started to move and rows of sharp rocks shot out from the ground to attack lopunny, who squeaked and tried to hop to safety. Lily wasn't done yet, and immediately started to trap Lopunny by making anywhere else other than the area near her to be full of sharp rock spikes.

The only safe place for lopunny now is the area that is within grabbing range of Lily's tentacles.

Seeing that it has nowhere else to go, lopunny decided to go in and fight Lily with a series of Fire Punch and Ice Punch. However, Lily defended against its every move and managed to wrap her tentacles around the lopunny.

A quick Stone Edge put the lopunny out of commission. That's two pokemon down for me and three for Amy. I still have the numerical advantage for now.

I grimaced when the next pokemon Amy sent out turns out to be an ursaring. Ursarings are vicious fighters and hard to put down. They are pretty notorious in the Johto region, where most of its species can be found. There are some in the Sinnoh region and even in the Kalos region, although their sightings there are a lot rarer.

"Earthquake!"

Ursaring stomped its foot on the ground to produce an earthquake that destroyed all of Lily's stone spikes in an instant. It gave a roar of challenge before charging towards Lily.

"Lily, Solar Beam!"

Seeing that the effects of Flamel's Sunny Day is still active, I quickly commanded Lily to take advantage of it and fire off her Solar Beams at the incoming ursaring. Ursaring paused in its charge and defended itself with its huge paws, before counterattacking with a huge Avalanche, much to our surprise.

"Lily!"

Lily broke through the heaps of rocky blocks of ice a few seconds later and immediately used Rock Surf to get closer to ursaring. The ursaring attacked with a Mega Punch that caused Lily's head to wobble from the impact, but she recovered her lost health immediately with a Synthesis. Her tentacles went to grab onto the ursaring, but the ursaring lit its paws on fire with a Fire Punch and then proceeded to use its immense strength to throw Lily away from it before charging up a Hyper Beam.

"Solar Beam!"

The two beams of energy collided and kicked up a huge cloud of dust. Ursaring came charging at Lily again merely seconds later. Lily tried to stop its advance with Stone Edge and Rock Slide, but the ursaring just broke all her rocks with its own attacks.

The ursaring hacked at Lily with a Cross Chop, who simply chose to restrict ursaring's movements with a Constrict. Lily immediately began to use Giga Drain to wear the ursaring out and to heal herself but was not expecting the ursaring to kick her with a Mega Kick.

"Lily, Grass Knot!"

Tendrils of grass emerged from the ground and snared ursaring, who used a Gunk Shot to melt the grass and then forced Lily to let it go with a Night Slash. I am afraid of using poison on the ursaring just in case it possesses the Guts ability, which works very well with the move Façade, a move that most trained ursarings are capable of using.

Wait a minute, Lily has a move for this kind of situations.

"Lily, Gastro Acid!"

Lily hurled a huge amount of acid at ursaring, who roared in pain at the contact. Gastro Acid has the effect of removing the target's ability for a short while, so even if this ursaring has the Guts ability, we need not fear it anymore.

"Toxic!"

Lily wrapped her tentacles around ursaring again to inject a dose of Toxic into ursaring. As I had predicted, ursaring immediately used Façade. Thankfully, the strength of the attack is lesser than I had imagined it to be thanks to the use of Gastro Acid.

"Belly Drum!"

Ursaring broke free and leapt a far distance backwards and immediately began to use Belly Drum. This is bad. _Really_ bad.

"Stop the ursaring! Stone Edge!"

Lily immediately sent out waves of Stone Edges at the ursaring, but we were too late as it completed its power up and destroyed the waves of rocks with just a single Shadow Claw. It immediately used Rest to go to sleep to heal up before using a Sleep Talk to immediately continue its battle with Lily.

We will get wiped out at this rate.

"Lily, Psych Up and Earthquake!"

Lily copied ursaring's power up with Pysch Up and immediately used a devastating Earthquake that shook the entire stadium violently, waking ursaring up. Lily went to poison ursaring with a Toxic once again, who snarled and slashed at Lily with repeated use of Fury Cutter, the power of each slash gaining strength after each successive use.

"Mega Punch!"

Ursaring roared and went to punch Lily, who braced herself for the attack.

"Spit up!"

Lily unleashed the entire Stockpile that she had been hoarding throughout the entire battle since the start of it and the clash of the two attacks created a shock wave that rippled outwards from the point of collision.

"Giga Impact!"

Ursaring slammed Lily into the ground violently with a massive punch, and I saw my Lily getting herself defeated for the first time in an official battle.

Despite the sense of disbelief at seeing Lily getting taken down, I immediately sent out Kel into battle to take advantage of the situation, seeing that the ursaring is also on its last legs.

"Taunt, Swords Dance, and Punishment!"

Kel followed my orders immediately and prevented the ursaring from healing back up with Taunt. The ursaring tried to take Kel out in a single hit with Hammer Arm, but Kel evaded it with Detect before using Swords Dance and Punishment, knocking ursaring out instead. Punishment had a great effect on ursaring since its offensive capabilities were boosted to the maximum from its Belly Drum.

This battle is truly the hardest battle I had gotten myself into to date in the Ever Grande Conference. I can finally get a glimpse of the abilities of the trainers who had truly earned their badges and their spot in this conference through their own skills.

A wigglytuff was sent out in response to Kel's presence and I know that I have to get it out of the way. Wigglytuff is also a fairy type, Kel is at a type disadvantage here.

"Perish Song!"

Kel sang out an eerie yet melodious tune. From the stares and the sudden silence from the crowd, I guess everyone was taken by surprise. Trainers don't usually command their pokemon to use Perish Song unless they have no other options left.

I hope they don't misunderstand my intentions. I just want to force Amy to switch her wigglytuff out for something else. Kel can always escape with Baton Pass anyway.

Wigglytuff moved to attack Kel with a Drain Punch but Kel dodged with a Detect before using a Psycho Cut with her horn. Wigglytuff simply sucked in a deep breath and puffed itself up into something similar to a huge balloon and purposely let Kel's horn slam into it.

And then bouncing Kel away using the elastic properties of its body.

 _What the hell? That is possible?!_

Kel gave an incredulous look at the wigglytuff for what it just did but decided to test wigglytuff's capabilities with a Thunderbolt. Wigglytuff used a Tri Attack to defend itself. It inflates itself again and used a Body Slam which Kel quickly escaped from. However, the wigglytuff simply bounced off from the ground and come after Kel again with repeated use of Body Slams, its momentum not slowing the slightest as it tried to squish Kel with its inflated body while bouncing around.

This is borderline genius and ridiculous. Props to Amy for thinking up such a way to use Body Slam.

The bouncing ball of wigglytuff began to spin and start to use a Gyro Ball instead to roll towards Kel and slowly gaining speed. Kel looked extremely annoyed. This is probably the most annoyed expression I have ever seen Kel putting on her face other than when she is interacting with Fuzzy.

"Calm Mind and Fire Blast!"

Kel stood still as she used a Calm Mind and unleashed a Fire Blast on the wigglytuff. Wigglytuff slowed down a little, but it continued its charge.

"Now, Stone Edge! Create a ramp!"

Kel raised the rocks from the ground and formed it into a makeshift ramp. Wigglytuff is unable to change its course and rolled up the ramp and launched itself into the sky. Kel had a vindictive smirk on her face as she watched the wigglytuff flying up high from its momentum.

"Wigglytuff, return! Go blissey! Seismic toss!"

Ah right, the time limit from Perish Song is almost up.

"Kel! Baton Pass to Dolly!"

Dolly appeared in a cackle and disappeared into the shadows immediately. The last time Dolly faced a blissey, it was Norman's blissey that we were facing.

"Taunt! Then Toxic and Curse!"

Dolly shrieked as she did as I commanded, determined to put this blissey down. She slammed into blissey right after that with a Pain Split to heal up her lost health.

"Blissey, Shadow Ball!"

Blissey threw out a barrage of Shadow Balls at Dolly, who countered with Shadow Balls of her own. Amy is getting a little desperate. Both Dolly and Kel have the ability to directly counter her blissey's strength, which is to heal up all damage with its recovery moves. Taunt is a nightmare against any pokemon who uses healing moves as their main ways to fight and outlast their opponent. She was probably expecting me to use Kratos and Toothless, since they made such an impression on the crowd in their last battle and was probably hoping that her blissey's recovery moves can outlast the both of them.

Maybe she forgot that Kratos's species is able to learn Taunt as well. Her blissey wouldn't have survived against Kratos.

Still, I want to get this blissey out of the way as soon as possible. The main strength of the blissey's species is its ability to heal up against almost any kind of damage, but that doesn't mean it is hopeless in battle without them. Blisseys are also capable of inflicting a wide variety of status inflicting moves and is capable of outlasting their foes even without the access to moves like Soft-Boiled.

"Charge Beam!"

Blissey acknowledged its trainer's command and unleashed a Charge Beam at Dolly, who returned fire with a Thunderbolt of her own. Blissey followed up with a Flamethrower and tried to use this chance to get closer to Dolly.

"Dolly, Phantom Force!"

Dolly disappeared from sight and reappeared above blissey a short while later with a massive Thunder charged and ready to fire.

The blissey unleashed a Dazzling Gleam to defend itself and the resulting explosion caught the two pokemon and threw them out of the blast zone violently. Both of them were too close to each other and the result of their attacks had brought each of their health down significantly. However, blissey had lots of health to spare and still looked relatively healthy due to the traits of its species. Dolly had gotten careless and got caught in the brunt of the explosion. All blissey needs is one good hit to take Dolly out.

"Zap Cannon, take out the banette!"

"Dolly, use it! Bring the blissey down!"

Dolly immediately dashed towards the Zap Cannon, much to the surprise of everyone. I can hear the crowd screaming and gasping in surprise at Dolly's seemingly suicidal move.

Dolly glowed briefly with ghostly energy just right before the Zap Cannon struck her and took her out. The same glow appeared on the blissey a few seconds later, taking it out as well.

I returned Dolly back to her pokeball. Her use of Destiny Bond is getting more and more accurate when it comes to timing its use perfectly.

Amy sent out her last pokemon, wigglytuff, as I sent out Kel again.

"Kel, Perish Song. We are ending this."

Kel used another Perish Song and I can see Amy getting frustrated with that move. She only has slightly less than three minutes before Perish Song takes effect and forced her wigglytuff out of commission. I have this win in the bag now, unless her wigglytuff is able to take both Kel and my sixth pokemon out within the time limit, which I doubt so.

"Gravity! Then Submission!"

Wigglytuff altered the gravity around Kel and sent her pressing onto the ground below, unable to move an inch.

Gravity can be used in this manner? I wonder if anyone from my team is capable of learning it? This application of Gravity seems to be very useful.

Wigglytuff came charging recklessly at Kel, intending to use Submission. Kel spewed out a Flamethrower to stop its advance but wigglytuff charged through it and intend on ending the immobilised Kel with one blow.

"Protect!"

Kel defended herself with a Protect before using a Substitute to get out of the area influenced by Gravity. She used a Taunt to prevent a second use of Gravity before shooting numerous Charge Beams at the wigglytuff, wary of getting too close to it due to its earlier display of making full use of its elastic body.

"Dynamic Punch!"

Wigglytuff gave a war cry before unleashing a devastating punch on Kel. Kel merely got out of the way with a Double Team. We don't need to crush wigglytuff to win. We just need to survive for a total of three minutes before the win goes to us automatically. I had only used five pokemons after all while Amy had used all six. I will win by default the moment Perish Song takes effect.

"Kel, Double Team."

Kel multiplied herself and I can see despair and resignation crawling up her face. There's no way her wigglytuff can find and defeat Kel in a single move after this. Kel's use of Taunt had prevented her wigglytuff from using any supplementary moves as well to aid her. Furthermore, there's only about a minute left until Perish Song comes into effect.

"I… I forfeit."

After the referee confirmed with Amy that she really chose to forfeit, our battle ended and the referee declared me as the victor, qualifying me as one of the trainers that had made it to the Top 8. I recalled Kel back to her pokeball as Amy recalled her wigglytuff. The both of us walked down from the stands to shake hands as a show of sportsmanship.

"That was a great match." I said sincerely as we shook hands. "I wasn't expecting Lily to be taken down at all. The rest of your pokemons were pretty strong too."

"You didn't even send out your tyranitar and charizard." Amy half-whined, half-complained. "Ursaring was supposed to counter your tyranitar with the slew of fighting type moves he knew but your cradily forced me to send him out prematurely." She sighed before we both walked out of the arena together side by side. "At least I took out four of your pokemons. That's probably the best record any of your challengers can boast so far."

"I guess so." I replied absentmindedly. "I still can't believe how strong your furret is. I never saw a furret battle on this level before."

Amy gave me a deadpan stare.

"You are the one who somehow managed to get your pachirisu to _fly_. Not only that, it managed to fight my pidgeot on equal ground and the outcome was a draw."

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly as Amy shook her head in resignation.

"You are a Generalist, aren't you? Are you thinking of getting a normal type for your team?"

I blinked before taking a few seconds to think about it.

"No. Not really. It never really crossed my mind. I don't really care what pokemons ended up on my team as long as they can all get along together. It's not like I'm aiming to be the best trainer out there or anything. I just want to travel the world. Competing in the conference is just the first milestone I need to complete and checked off my bucket list before I continue on my journey."

Amy stared at me once more and I felt a little uneasy at how she is staring at me.

"What?"

"Argh! This is unfair!" Amy threw her hands up in exasperation comically as she cried out loud. "I want to be the strongest trainer and be the champion for this conference and yet I lost to someone who views this conference as something to be checked off her bucket list so that she can travel the world?! Argh!"

Oops. I need to be careful of what I say from now on. I don't want to come across as being insensitive to the feelings of others. Many trainers do come here with the intention of being the strongest.

Amy seemed to notice my silence, before she quiet down and laughed awkwardly for her earlier display.

"Ehehe… Sorry about that. I tend to get a little carried away at times and scare off many people with my behaviour."

"It's fine. I should have watch what I was saying too. I was a little insensitive with my words earlier."

Amy slung an arm around my shoulder as we both continue to walk towards the pokemon centre.

"How about we become friends? I live in Goldenrod City in Johto, you can come find me whenever you are passing by the area."

I smiled.

"I would like that. You can come visit me in Petalburg whenever you are free too. Provided I'm not outside travelling." I added the last part quickly. It is more likely that I will be spending most of my time after this conference travelling and helping Agatha write the 'textbook for dummies', as she calls it. I am still undecided which region I want to explore after the conference, but I am in no hurry to explore a new place. It's not like I'm on a time limit or anything. I will probably spend a month or two at home before continuing my travels again.

"Alright! First friend in Hoenn! Checked!" Amy cried out as she quickly whipped out a notebook and ticked off something written on it. I leaned over and saw a bucket list of things that Amy had planned to do while she is in Hoenn. Some of them had been completed. Some of them are still left unchecked.

"You were complaining about me having a bucket list, and now you have one yourself?" I stared at the girl with a look of disbelief, but she doesn't seem to notice and pulled me along with her as she quickens the pace.

"Quick! Let's go to the pokemon centre to heal up our pokemons and then we can go find something fun to do! I have been dying to try out the famous Mossdeep Twin Waffles out in the bazaar but I need someone else to go with me since the waffles will only be served if there are two people! I finally have someone to eat the waffles with me!"

I can't believe this girl.

She befriended me just so that she can eat some waffles?!

* * *

 **AN: The lineup of Amy's team is based on Lezaroth's suggestions in the reviews. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted you guys to suggest pokemons or possible teams that you want Vel to compete against. I checked the movelist of every pokemon he suggested and found that each and every of the pokemon there is versatile in their own way. It also helps that these pokemons are rarely written about in fanfics so I decided to give it a go.**

 **The battles are getting harder for Vel and there is a maximum of three more battles that she can possibly take part in (top 8, semi-finals, and then the final match). I will be using some of the pokemons that I saw in the reviews section. Your suggestions thus far are the inspiration for some of the specialists that I had created to face Vel in the conference, believe it or not.**

 **Personally, I cannot wait for the EGC arc to be over already since I want to start expanding on the 'travelling' part of the story. I have a few ideas in mind on what will happen after the EGC arc and I think you guys will probably love it. It will take some time to build up to that point though.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not as long as I expected it to be, but I think the battle should be interesting enough to satisfy everyone.**


	27. Chapter 27- Toxic Problems And Solutions

_'You need to stop worrying so much, Mistress.'_

"This is a Poison Specialist that we will be going up against, Rena. There's a need to be worried."

Rena watched from where she is lying on the floor as Vel wrote up plans after plans to find a way for their team to battle against their next opponent. Vel is very worried as their next challenger is an established Poison Specialist. The fact that he had taken down all of his previous opposition with ease is a cause for concern, in Vel's opinion.

It's already late at night.

"We don't have a Steel type on our team, and the only weaknesses that Poison types have are Ground and Psychic type moves. Ground type moves are easy to defend against if you know what to look out for. This guy has a track record for rendering any ground type moves next to useless from what I can see." Vel rambled as she looked through recordings of their next opponent's previous battles. "There's a very high chance that our next victory is dependent on both Kel's and your performance, Rena, if the worst comes to pass. You are probably the only one that can take out his pokemons with ease. With help from the team, of course."

 _'If that is what you wish, then I won't disappoint, Mistress.'_

Vel gave her a curious look.

"Sometimes I really can't tell if you love to battle or not. It's a little hard to read your opinion on things that is not you complaining about someone on our team misbehaving."

 _'Whether I love or dislike battles is irrelevant. The only thing I care about is your wellbeing.'_

Vel gave her a pat on the head. Rena enjoys it. Her Mistress always know how to make her feel comfortable and at ease.

"Learn to care more about yourself, Rena. I appreciate the fact that you care a lot about me, but I do care about you and the whole team as well. If you don't wish to battle, then you don't need to battle. I can always send out Snap or Bigblue to battle this guy if need be, although it is still a little too early to be showing them off. I want to have the element of surprise for as long as possible."

 _' **You** need to care more about yourself, Mistress. You are always looking after someone. If not us, then it is your family. You are the one with permanent sickness, not us.'_

Fuzzy and Dolly voiced their agreement from where they are loitering about in Vel's room. Kel is already curled up in a corner with her eyes closed, but Rena can feel her friend agreeing with their sentiments as well. Rena still isn't proficient enough in her psychic powers to allow the entire team to converse with Vel telepathically, and she don't know if she will reach that level of power one day. Her kind is more attuned to sensing emotions. Telepathy is more of the domain of Holly's species. Despite that, letting her friends in on the telepathic conversation she is having with Vel is no issue.

"You guys." Vel shook her head in fond exasperation before closing her notebook that she has been writing on for at least a few hours. "I swear, sometimes it feels like you guys are the trainer and I'm the pokemon."

Fuzzy squeaked and picked up an empty pokeball from Vel's belt, which is lying nearby, before doing his dramatic acting, probably to imitate a trainer. Dolly cackled and joined in the fun, wrapping Vel's scarf around herself and floating around Fuzzy in circles.

The only reason Rena tolerates their rowdy behaviour is because these two never fail to put on a smile on Vel's face with their antics. Vel finds their actions to be hilarious.

 _'You spoil them too much, Mistress. They will make a huge mess if you let them carry on what they are doing.'_

"No harm in indulging them in a little fun every now and then." Vel said before changing into her sleepwear and then lie on her bed, pulling the covers over herself. Rena jumped up onto the bed to snuggle next to Vel and Fuzzy joined in. Dolly simply vanished into the shadows, probably sneaking off somewhere to have some fun on her own. She has no need for sleep due to her Insomnia ability.

 _'Vel! Vel! Will I be battling again?'_

 _'Be quiet, Fuzzy. Mistress needs to sleep.'_

"What is it, Fuzzy?" Vel asked as she patted the noisiest member on the team. Rena mentally sighed and did her job as the team's translator.

 _'He is asking if he would be battling again.'_

"Probably not." Vel said as she gave a small yawn. "You, Kel, and Toothless will probably be the most important fighters for the next match. Fuzzy is a lot stronger now, but he is not suited to fight against a Poison Specialist. I am thinking of sending out Kratos too, but I doubt so. He is still a little impulsive. Fighting poison types require more finesse than brute strength, and definitely need a whole lot more patience. Patience that he doesn't have. I will send him out in the later matches if we win the next one."

 _'A brute will always be a brute.'_

"But you can't deny that sometimes we need a brute to solve certain problems. Everyone has their own strengths, Rena. You are meticulous and careful, which is a good thing. But sometimes you overthink too much. There are times where the simplest way can be the best way to solve problems."

 _'Talking about the brute, he has been bugging me to inform you to get more members on the team that enjoys a good fight. I would have ignored him, but he somehow got Toothless and Snap to agree with him. Their bugging has been getting rather annoying recently, hence this conversation.'_

Vel suppressed a laugh at Rena's words, but she gave her reply.

"I'm not sure if I want more members on our team." Vel mumbled. "I'm not sure if I can give everyone enough attention and care if that happens."

 _'That shouldn't be the reason why you don't want more members on the team, Mistress. You are already giving us more than what we can ask for. If you come across other pokemons who you think is a great fit on our team, then get them to join.'_

Vel gave her a mischievous smirk.

"And if it is another pokemon that loves to fight?"

Rena's left eye twitched as she imagined the mayhem if another battle-hungry pokemon joins their team. Her default response would be a big 'NO', but if Vel really thinks that such a pokemon is suited to join their team…

 _'… I will try to tolerate brute number two, if it comes to that.'_

* * *

It is with nervousness that I entered the battle that would determine if I qualify to rise up to the ranks of the Top 4. Jacky Marsh is a formidable and problematic trainer to go up against with the pokemons he is known to be using. Poison Specialists are not exactly rare, but they are not common either. I myself had never encounter a Poison Specialist in battle before this.

Not many people will choose to specialise in poison types for very practical reasons. Poison types are not that hard to raise, but they are troublesome to handle. Even on my family's farm, we don't have many poison types. The poison types we have on our farm are mainly those who have poison type as their secondary typing.

Poison type pokemons tend to destroy the environment and the ecosystem around them. They thrive in destroyed environment or places where only they can live, like wastelands, landfills, marshes, and abandoned industrial areas. The toxic fumes and substances they produce and emit is hazardous to anything that has no resistance to it. This alone deters many trainers and breeders alike in raising poison types in captivity. Humans who have to handle poison types have to take extreme precaution if they don't want to die from an overdose of toxins in their system.

Even on my family's farm, the poison types we raised are mainly the roselia species, which acts more like a grass type than a poison type. We have other poison types too, like nidoqueens and nidokings, but they don't have the tendency to release poison fumes and venoms willy-nilly. So we don't have issues with raising such poison types on our farm. Pokemons like muk or weezing though… they just aren't suited to be raised on our farm. These pokemons will just destroy the delicate ecosystem that our family has been maintaining on our farm for generations simply by being there.

Despite how hard it is to handle them, poison type pokemons are also useful to humans, even the highly toxic ones. Pokemons like muk, weezing, and garbodor are able to enter heavily hazardous environments to conduct search and rescue operations. There is an incident with a chemical processing factory a few years back in Unova when something went wrong and a huge explosion happened. Rescuers have to search for any survivors on top of dealing with a massive chemical leak. Most of the employees there didn't survive, but there were a few who got rescued in time thanks to the poison type pokemons deployed to rescue them.

The mind-boggling part was how the authorities made use of poison type pokemons to clean up the mess thereafter.

A large horde of highly toxic pokemon who thrive on consuming toxic wastes were deployed to clean up the chemical leak. The mess was largely cleaned up within a week simply by having these pokemons eating up any toxic wastes they could find. According to Dad, many chemical processing plants have poison pokemons of their own to clean up toxic wastes that they produced during the manufacturing process. It is just that this wasn't common knowledge until the unfortunate incident in Unova happened.

I stepped up onto the challenger's stand and I could hear the crowd roaring in excitement. My current rank is now in the Top 8 of this year's conference and already I have an online fanbase who is cheering me on. Vance had told me that many expected me to get into the Top 4 or even the Top 2 of this year's conference, and these expectations actually gave me some pressure. There were mixed views after the pairings were released and people found out that Jacky and I will be facing each other in battle to fight for the spot of Top 4. From what I know, both of us are expected to end up in the Top 4 before the pairings are announced. No one is expecting for us to face each other in battle this soon.

Once the pre-battle preparations are done, both Jacky and I sent out our first pokemon to battle.

I decided to go with my usual tactics and sent out Flamel like what I usually do. To be honest, I don't expect him to be able to handle any of Jacky's pokemons one on one since Flamel is not really a battler. Flamel will probably never reach that level of strength. What he can do, is to force Jacky to show his hand early, or to weaken Jacky's pokemon enough for the next member of our team to revenge kill Jacky's pokemon.

As I had predicted, Jacky sent in a scolipede. This is also one reason I decided to go with Flamel. I want the type advantage. I could have sent in Toothless too, but sending him out this early would likely prove to be detrimental for us later on in our fight.

Flamel immediately started off with a Sunny Day and Inferno combo as we had planned. Scolipedes are known to be agile predators so we need to limit its options as much as possible by making sure it has nowhere to run.

The scolipede simply curled up into a ball and started with a Rollout before charging through the sea of flames in Flamel's direction without even flinching.

"Overheat!"

Flamel blasted the rolling scolipede with an Overheat but the scolipede just continue with its charge. Flamel met its charge head-on with a Flare Blitz that cracked the ground beneath them. The scolipede unwind itself and immediately starts to attack Flamel viciously with its horns.

Flamel cooked scolipede with his flames but the poison bug pokemon simply shrugged off his attacks and used a Poison Jab on Flamel, inflicting him with a poisoned status. Flamel countered with a Façade that forced scolipede to back off. Scolipede is inflicted with a burn thanks to Flamel's Inferno, but it doesn't seem to be affected by it.

"Venoshock!"

Flamel cried out in pain at the attack and I gritted my teeth. Venoshock is an attack that deals a lot more damage if the target has already been poisoned. With just two attacks, that scolipede had already evened the playing field.

That scolipede's poison must be very lethal if it is able to significantly lower Flamel's health just like that.

"End the rapidash, Venoshock again!"

"Flare Blitz!"

Flamel charged in with the largest Flare Blitz I had ever seen and collided into the scolipede in a flash of fire. Unfortunately, Flamel lay unconscious on the ground after the fire died down.

I returned Flamel back to his pokeball. He had done his best, and that is all that matters.

Dolly appeared for battle next as she tried to blast the scolipede with bursts of Hex. The scolipede dodged with Agility although some of Dolly's attacks managed to connect onto the scolipede.

"Toxic!"

The scolipede immediately tried to poison Dolly, but we have prepared ourselves for this particular move.

"Magic Coat!"

Magic Coat is an attack that reflects any moves that inflicts a status condition back onto the user. Scolipede won't get poisoned from its own move since it is a poison type, but nevertheless, Magic Coat is a perfect defense for us in preventing Dolly from getting poisoned.

Scolipede increased its speed even further with Agility as it zipped around the battlefield trying to hit Dolly with its attacks. Dolly responded in kind as she dived in and out of the shadows to battle scolipede, Shadow Balls firing in huge amounts.

One particular nasty Shadow Ball hit the scolipede and I gave a mental cheer. Just one more hit and the scolipede would be out of the count.

"Scolipede, Baton Pass!"

Not happening on our watch.

"Dolly, Pursuit!"

Dolly appeared from scolipede's shadow and struck a heavy blow on the scolipede, smashing it into the other end of the arena.

I tried to slow down my breathing when Jacky returned his scolipede. This fast-paced battle got me caught up in it without realising it. This battle is really intense.

A crobat appeared for battle next and I resist the urge to sigh. Crobats are notoriously fast and almost impossible to pin down. Dolly is going to have a hard time here.

But she is also probably the only one on the team that is able to match the crobat in speed. If anyone can catch the crobat, it will be her.

"Dolly, Miasma!"

Dolly immediately unleashed a combination of Dark Pulse and Ominous Wind, the same combo that she used against Tate and Liza during our gym circuit. The entire stadium immediately got itself covered in a dark fog. In this fog, Dolly can be _anywhere_.

Crobat let out a cry as several of Dolly's Shadow Balls crashed into it and the crobat immediately start to fly erratically to throw Dolly's aim off. Dolly improvised by firing Shock Waves at the crobat, who had no choice but to use several Air Slashes to defend itself.

"Clear the fog with Defog!"

With a powerful flap of crobat's wings, the miasma was cleared. However, Dolly cannot be seen anywhere.

A huge column of Thunder burst out from right below crobat where its shadow is and crobat screamed in pain. However, instead of escaping from the attack, the crobat withstood it and immediately flew down to strike its own shadow with a Payback.

The unexpected counterattack forced Dolly out from her hiding place and it is obvious that Dolly suffered significant damage from that blow. Her species is not one that can take many blows in battle. Just a few is enough to knock Dolly out.

"Pain Split!"

Dolly went to steal some of crobat's health for herself, but Jacky and crobat did the unexpected once more.

"Taunt!"

Ah shit, turning our favourite move onto ourselves.

Dolly immediately changed her course when crobat casted Taunt to escape from her foe. Crobat went to hack at her with Cross Poison and fired Dark Pulses of its own at Dolly, who is now forced to be on the run.

"Dolly, Phantom Force!"

Dolly immediately vanished and reappeared right behind crobat in a split second before blasting it down with a Thunderbolt.

Or that's what we thought.

What Dolly blasted down turns out to be a Substitute and the real crobat appeared above her and slashed at Dolly with a Cross Poison, taking Dolly out as well.

Jacky is _good_. At this rate, this might very well be the end of my Ever Grande Conference challenge.

I sent out the next member of the team to battle the crobat, although I know she wouldn't be very pleased to face a flying type in battle.

"Lily! City of Pillars!"

Lily immediately raised pillars of stones out from the ground in the blink of an eye and then began to swiftly swing herself from pillar to pillar using her tentacles. This very act seemed to take Jacky and crobat by surprise, since they were stunned by the sight and unable to react for a short while, giving Lily the much-needed time to get closer to crobat.

"Confuse Ray!"

Lily sent out a ghostly ray of energy that find its mark on crobat, who was a little too slow to react. Lily didn't waste any time as she immediately wrapped her tentacles around the crobat before smashing the bat pokemon viciously into one of the pillars with a Smack Down, taking the pillar down in the process as well.

The only thing that went through my mind as I witnessed this sight is that Lily really, really, hates dealing with flying types.

The next pokemon that Jacky sent out is a pokemon that is probably one of the most problematic opponents for Lily to face under certain conditions.

A tentacruel appeared for battle next and I really hope it doesn't have the Liquid Ooze ability. Moves like Giga Drain will be useless against that tentacruel if that is the case.

Still, there's a way to counter that.

"Lily, Worry Seed!"

Lily immediately went to plant seeds that latched onto the tentacruel, changing its ability to Insomnia. With that, we don't need to worry about it having Liquid Ooze as its ability anymore.

"Earth Power!"

The earth erupted beneath the tentacruel as it defended itself with a combination of Barrier and Reflect. It also used an Aqua Ring to form a protective area around it.

"Tentacruel, Sludge Wave!"

Tentacruel sprayed a massive wave of sludge on the arena, forcing Lily to stay high up on the pillars to prevent herself from being caught up in it and get herself poisoned as a result.

"Lily, flip the ground over! Get rid of the sludge!"

Looking back, this scene is one of the most memorable memories of my Ever Grande Conference and is what got me the moniker of 'Arena Flipper', although I only found that out later on.

Ignoring the gasps and screams from the crowd, Lily used her powers over rocks to lift _half_ of the arena up before flipping it and sent it crashing down below onto the tentacruel. A large gaping hole is left on the half that Lily lifted up as Lily perched herself high up on one of the unaffected pillars. I can see many of the spectators running for cover in the crowd and many psychic pokemons suddenly teleporting outside the psychic barriers in response, trying to maintain their hold over it just in case something went wrong.

Causing mayhem seems to be my team's forte. The same thing happened during Kratos's and Toothless's battle, although not to that extreme since they did nothing as drastic as what Lily did.

Sometimes people's reactions to what my team is capable of makes me wonder if I raised them correctly. We didn't mean to scare them. Lily only lifted half of the arena. She can lift area of rocks at least five times the size of what she just did without effort.

I think it might be better to just keep that knowledge to ourselves.

The tentacruel burrowed its way out, surprisingly unharmed. Tentacruels are known to be able to take heavy physical damage without flinching due to their unique physiology and their ability to use Barrier and Reflect. I wasn't hoping to take tentacruel out with that display, I just want to get rid of all the poisonous sludge.

Lily rained rocks down on tentacruel with Rock Slide and Ancient Power from where she is perched high up above on the pillar. At the same time, she attacked tentacruel from below with Stone Edge and Earth Power, sandwiching tentacruel with her attacks.

Smart girl.

Tentacruel summoned a huge wave of water with Surf to defend itself from the rocks before shooting an Ice Beam at Lily. Lily simply used her control over rocks to shift the pillar which she is perching at away from the Ice Beam and increased the ferocity of her attacks.

We are slowly wearing the tentacruel down.

"Whirlpool! Destroy the pillars!"

"Drain the waters!"

Tentacruel immediately summoned a massive Whirlpool but Lily shifted the ground such that the water flows down into the large gaping hole where half of the arena was once at. Lily used a Sunny Day before she started to fire a barrage of Solar Beams at the tentacruel. Tentacruel isn't very mobile on land, and it is forced to defend itself since it is unable to run away in time.

"Blizzard!"

Tentacruel unleashed a massive Blizzard that forced Lily to surround herself with a shield of rocks to block out the attack. We need to stop that tentacruel.

"Lily, raise the tentacruel up with Stone Edge and finish it!"

Lily slammed tentacruel upwards with a stone pillar that rose upwards at a rapid rate. The tentacruel clung onto the pillar for dear life, unable to move for fear of dropping down.

"Wring Out and Giga Drain!"

Lily's tentacles emerged from behind the shield of rocks that she had erected for herself and snared the tentacruel, giving it a crushing squeeze with a Wring Out and sucked out its energy with a powerful Giga Drain, snatching us a win.

I knew Lily could do it.

The next pokemon Jacky sent out had me worried. This is one of his strongest fighters.

A massive nidoking announced its appearance with an earth-shaking roar and immediately started out with an Earthquake to destroy the pillars around it, forcing Lily to scamble down. It also raised the earth from below to fill up the massive hole that Lily had left behind earlier, giving it more space to fight in.

All of these took place in less than five seconds, not many pokemon can do that. This nidoking is no joke. I'm not sure if Lily can stand up to this guy.

Lily tried to get rid of nidoking's ability with a Worry Seed, but nidoking used a Flamethrower to burn them down before charging in with a Megahorn. Lily used Earth Power to damage it, but the nidoking wasn't hindered in the slightest.

"Grab it with Constrict!"

Lily's tentacles lashed out and wrapped itself around the nidoking, preventing it from ramming Lily with its horn.

Lily winced and I realised that this nidoking has the Poison Point ability. It used a powerful physical move to force Lily to have physical contact with it and allowing its ability to trigger as a result.

Jacky and nidoking really makes a scary duo to go up against.

"Venoshock!"

"Recover!"

Lily mitigated the damage from Venoshock with Recover and used a Confuse Ray to try and confuse the nidoking. Nidoking destroyed the Confuse Ray by forcing itself free from Lily's tentacles and used a Shadow Claw to slash at it. It went in with a Poison Jab but Lily tripped it with a Grass Knot, sending it tumbling down.

"Pain Split!"

Lily recovered some of her health back with Pain Split but nidoking used the chance to grab one of her tentacles and forcefully pulled on it, sending Lily flying towards itself.

To my horror, nidoking unleashed a point-blank Blizzard on Lily, freezing her in a block of ice and taking her out of the battle.

I quickly returned Lily back to her pokeball. Lily cannot cope well in low temperatures and the stasis of her pokeball will prevent anything untoward from happening to her. She will be safe there.

I paused for a short while as I contemplate on who I should send out next. The only ones that can go toe to toe with that absurdly powerful nidoking are Snap, Toothless, Bigblue, and Kratos. Who should I choose?

I sent Toothless out for battle next. Nidoking shouldn't have too many options in dealing with an opponent that is able to fly in the air. Snap could have done the job too, but Toothless is a better choice to deal with a poison type.

"Sunny Day and Inferno! Keep your distance from the nidoking!"

Toothless immediately bathed the entire arena in hot flames upon my command. The remnants of the sludges accumulated since the start of the battle caught fire as well and helped to hasten the process.

Most poison attacks, especially the ranged ones, have oily substances in it that can be easily ignited. This is the main reason why I chose Toothless to battle, since the intensity of his flames can easily ignite any sludge and get rid of it within seconds. Any poisonous fumes that resulted from the combustion can be dispersed with his wings.

The nidoking retaliated with a massive wave of Surf that extinguished the flames around it and sent another wave of Surf at Toothless, who destroyed the wave of water with a powerful Air Slash. Toothless roared at the nidoking before using Inferno once more. He is capable of keeping his flames going for long periods of time if he doesn't stupidly use a powerful attack like Overheat and Blast Burn without my permission.

The nidoking took a leaf out of Lily's book and raised its elevation with a Stone Edge. Many stone pillars rose together with it as well. The pillars are not as well-made as Lily's, but it is pretty good for its first attempt.

The nidoking then jumped into the air towards Toothless, who dodged nidoking's attack and fired a Flamethrower. Nidoking defended itself with a Water Pulse before shooting out Thunderbolts and forced Toothless to keep its distance. The nidoking landed on another pillar before discharging massive amounts of Thunderbolts at Toothless once again, forcing him to be on the run.

"Toothless, Heat Wave!"

Toothless did an abrupt stop before turning back to release a massive Heat Wave that combusted in an explosion upon hitting the mass of Thunderbolts. A large amount of smoke resulted from the attack which Toothless quickly dispersed with his wings.

 _But where did the nidoking disappear to?_

Toothless immediately glanced around warily upon realising that nidoking had disappeared. How had it disappeared in such a short amount of time?

A large amount of rocks fell down from the sky with the use of Rock Slide and Toothless immediately destroyed it with Metal Claw. Nidoking must be hiding somewhere while sniping attacks at us, but _where_ is it hiding at?

A larger volley of rocks fell down again and Toothless have no choice but to fly lower to escape from the attack. Shit, nidoking must be herding it down lower to the ground. In that case, we might as well take the initiative.

"Toothless! Flare Blitz then Earthquake! Destroy everything!"

Toothless roared in acknowledgement before cloaking himself in a shroud of fire and slamming himself violently onto the ground, shaking the entire stadium. I don't know where nidoking is hiding itself, but it is likely that it is hiding underground. If it is, then the Earthquake will force it out.

Nidoking emerged right after Toothless's Earthquake and caught him with its claws. It looked injured from Toothless's Earthquake, but still capable of fighting. From the way nidoking is holding Toothless, I don't think Toothless can escape without getting severely injured in the process. We might as well try to bring it down now.

"Toothless, Blast Burn! Take it out!"

Toothless didn't hesitate to destroy nidoking with a Blast Burn. To my utter shock and disbelief, that nidoking is _still_ standing after receiving the entirety of Toothless's attack.

"Smack Down!"

Nidoking slammed Toothless into the ground with its claws, who is now trying to defend himself with his claws. Toothless is unable to fight back properly after that Blast Burn, he needs some time to recharge before doing so.

"Stone Edge!"

The nidoking raised a large, jagged piece of rock from the ground and rammed it into Toothless. It caught Toothless again, before using Smack Down on him once more, taking Toothless out.

Just _what_ is needed to take down this nidoking?!

I am at a numerical disadvantage now since I only have two pokemons left for this battle while Jacky still has two more on top of his nidoking. I need to change the way I am battling against him.

I took a few seconds to consider before coming to a decision. This is a very risky way to battle but the rewards might just be worth it. In fact, it is my last resort when facing people of Jacky's calibre. If done right, we won't need to worry about the nidoking and the subsequent pokemons that Jacky sent out.

If done wrong, then our journey in the Ever Grande Conference ends here. Right now, we either sink, or we swim.

"Kel! Set up!"

Kel immediately cloned herself with Double Team and began to implement our plan. The most important part of the plan is to get Kel to survive as long as possible.

Nidoking tried to hit Kel with a variety of moves, but thankfully, none connected. The fatigue that the nidoking is facing must be kicking in after taking down Lily and Toothless. No matter how strong it is, it has to be affected by taking the full blow of Toothless's Earthquake and Blast Burn.

Nidoking even tried an Earthquake in desperation but Kel's Detect prevented it from hitting her. Seeing that none of its moves can hit Kel, Nidoking tried to heal up with Rest, only to find that Kel's Taunt is in effect.

"Sludge Wave! Seek it out!"

Nidoking released a massive wave of sludge only for blades of Razor Wind to tear it into shreds before it can be properly sprayed across the arena. Blasts of Future Sights hit nidoking at the same time, courtesy of Kel's Prediction combo.

Thank god Kel is a master at multi-tasking. She might have just saved our entire team from complete annihilation for what she is doing right now. Furthermore, Kel should be about done by now. She had stalled long enough.

An overpowered Shadow Ball from Kel shot into nidoking from Kel. This is the signal from her that she is done.

"Baton Pass!"

Rena appeared on the battlefield gracefully with huge amount of psychic energy buzzing around her. She immediately split into numerous illusionary copies, the effect of Kel's Double Team passing on to her thanks to Baton Pass.

"Psychic!"

With one overpowered psychic, Jacky's nidoking is finally brought down.

What Kel passed on to Rena was not only the effects of Double Team, but her repeated use of Calm Mind as well. Right now, Rena's special attacks are boosted to the maximum. Just a few of her Psychic attack at full power is enough to bring any Elite level pokemon down if it hit. Not many trainers like to use this tactic as it takes time to use, and the pokemon doing the passing has to be capable of surviving the onslaught of attacks it will take while trying to set up for the next pokemon. The number of trainers who can use this tactic to full effect in the higher levels of pokemon battles are rare and few in between as only a few pokemons are naturally capable of such a feat.

Luckily for us, Kel is one such pokemon. It's time for our comeback.

Jacky sent out a skuntank next and from the grim expression on his face, he must have realised the severity of his circumstances. Skuntank is also a dark type pokemon, but if he thinks that sending a dark type out to counter Rena is enough to stop our rampage, then he needs to try harder.

"Rena, Hyper Voice!"

Some of the smarter audiences in the stadium covered their ears the moment they saw me covering mine as Rena let out a high pitch scream that sent the Skuntank reeling back from the resulting shock wave.

"Laser Focus and Zap Cannon! Bring it down!"

Rena's eyes glowed a psychic blue before she discharged a huge amount of electricity and sent it towards the skuntank, who is still trying to shrug off the effects of that overpowered Hyper Voice.

The skuntank didn't stand a chance.

The crowd went wild at the sudden turnaround Rena and I were displaying. They must have thought that my loss is inevitable.

Actually, I had the same thoughts too. Until I decided to put my trust in Kel and take a gamble.

The last pokemon that Jacky sent out is a venusaur, which is right up there with his nidoking in terms of power. His venusaur is adept at defense with its ability to use recovery moves like Leech Seed, Giga Drain, Synthesis, and Rest. Jacky's venusaur is also known to be able to defend itself with ease against its natural type disadvantages like flying, fire, and ice types.

But if there is one thing I found out from his previous battles, it is that his venusaur is not as capable in defending itself from psychic attacks.

"Don't let it have a chance to attack! Psychic!"

Rena immediately went on the offensive as she blasted venusaur with huge waves of psychic without rest. Each of Rena's Psychic whittle down a significant amount of venusaur's health, who is now forced to defend or heal up to prevent itself from being taken down quickly. Still, it is a testament to venusaur's prowess that it is able to hold its ground for at least a minute while Rena keeps slamming it with overpowered Psychics repeatedly.

"Frenzy Plant!"

We got them desperate. Good. Frenzy Plant wouldn't work, my team are no slouches when it comes to defending themselves.

"Protect!"

Rena defended herself from the huge mass of vines and branches that was summoned by venusaur without even needing to move an inch. Venusaur now needs to recharge and is momentarily defenceless.

"Stored Power! Take it out!"

Stored Power is a move that gains more power the more the user gains power. With Kel's repeated use of Double Team and Calm Mind passed on to Rena, Rena's Stored Power packs enough power to one-hit-KO almost anything that has no natural resistance to it.

With a huge burst of Psychic power, Rena sent venusaur hurtling to the other side of the arena and slam it through the psychic barriers. The venusaur didn't get back up.

Even when the referee announced me the winner of the match and when I went down to the arena to shake Jacky's hand as he sincerely congratulated me for the win, I still couldn't believe that I had won.

I made it.

I made it to the Top 4.

* * *

 **AN: I just realised that I forgot to put down the character and pokemon list for the past two chapters, so here it is.**

 **Rena's performance might seem like a complete curb stomp and a very one-sided battle, but what Kel and Rena did used to be a very popular way of battling until moves like Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes were introduced. I'm not sure how many of you tried competitive battling before, but if you ever encounter anyone who use this tactic, usually with a speed boost ninjask or blaziken** (really hate those at that time, go check out ninjask with swords dance, protect, substitute, and baton pass if you want to know. It's a pain in the ass to fight those). **It's basically game over for you the moment they finished powering up and baton pass to their next pokemon. The next pokemon with all the power ups can practically one shot anyone on your team with no problems. Thankfully, many more moves were introduced starting from gen 4 to stop this from becoming too prevalent in competitive battles, although there are probably still a sizable number of players out there who still favour this tactic. I'm not too sure about the current competitive scene since I haven't been playing for a long time.**

 **I have always wanted to try writing a battle with a poison specialist and I'm glad I have a chance to write it out. Not sure if it is exciting enough for you guys. Vel had met her own expectation to make it into the Top 4 as well. It's time to bring out the big guns since there's no point hiding them anymore.**

 **I will be starting my internship starting from this coming Monday. This also means that I will not have much time to write stories anymore for a few months since the only time I will have available to write will be a short few hours every night. I know I had said before that I aimed to finish this story by this summer, but in light of the new developments occurring in my life, that would probably be impossible. I had drafted up many possible conclusions to the end of this story, about five so far, and there's one that looks possible and interesting enough for me to expand on. However, the story will also be a very long one and given my erratic updating schedule, I really don't know when I will finish this story. If I really have to give an estimate, this story will probably still be here after a year or two, depending on how fast I can update this summer.**

 **I'm trying to get as many chapters out as soon as possible this summer. You guys might spot quite a few grammatical mistakes as a result since I won't have much time to check on these. Not sure about other writers out there, but there's usually a tradeoff for me between grammatical errors and update speed. A faster update speed usually comes with more errors. I chose update speed over the chances for errors in this case, and I seek your kind understanding in this matter.**

 **As always, hope you enjoy reading this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**


	28. Chapter 28- Blazes of Glory

Both Jacky and I chatted with each other as we waited for the nurses to finish checking up and healing our pokemon. Rena's and Kel's checkup had already been completed since they did not suffer any damage from their battles. All the nurses did was to give them a quick physical examination before letting them return back to me.

Rena wasted no time in bounding back to me with a skip in her steps and jumped on my lap to snuggle there. Kel simply lay down beside where I was sitting.

Jacky and I talked about poison types and our battle while his toxicroak just stand beside him and stare at the two of us without blinking, the only other thing it did was the occasional croaking sound. If it wasn't for Jacky's reassuring presence, I might have found it creepy.

"Ah, don't mind my toxicroak. That's just how his species spend any idle time they have. They like to stare into nothing until something breaks them out of it. Sorry if he creeped you out. This tends to happen."

"It's fine." I waved off his concerns. "I'm just curious about your toxicroak. This is my first time seeing one up close."

"This bad boy here is supposed to counter your tyranitar, you know?" Jacky mused as he laid back on the couch that we were both sitting on and tossed his toxicroak a few treats from his pocket, which it took without blinking and gobbled in a split second before returning to its blank stare. "Wasn't expecting you to not be using it at all."

"I'm actually glad that I didn't send him out. Your toxicroak looks capable enough to demolish him." I said as I look at toxicroak with an appraising eye. It is definitely well-trained. Kratos's main weakness are fighting type pokemons, the only way he could win them is either through overwhelming them with his attacks, or not allowing them to get close to him at all.

"Nidoking and venusaur are able to handle your tyranitar too, but your cradily needs to be taken down, so I sent nidoking out early. Your cradily might have lost to that ursaring, but I know it can be very hard to fight against if I don't take it out as soon as possible. I saw how it healed itself."

" _Your_ nidoking is a monster." I replied in a deadpan. "No one had took Toothless's Blast Burn like that and still be capable of fighting. Even Kratos get out of his way whenever he uses that move and Kratos is a rock type."

Jacky gave me a toothy grin.

"What can I say? I am a very capable trainer." His gaze then trailed down to Rena, who is lying comfortably on my lap. "Until your espeon totally destroyed me and my team. I think I might have suffered some trauma after that display."

Rena lifted her head up a little to give Jacky a smug grin.

"Well, I should have picked up sooner on what your absol was doing." Jacky mused as he looked at Kel, who is resting on the floor and totally ignoring our conversation as she curled up to sleep. "I use the same tactic with my scolipede but somehow it just didn't click for me that you were planning on using Baton Pass. I didn't even notice your absol using Calm Mind."

"Kel is one of the most elusive members of my team." I replied with pride as I glanced at Kel's sleeping form, although I know that she is definitely awake. She just didn't want to bother with Jacky so she pretended to be asleep. "She is very reliable when it comes down to it."

"My friends are going to laugh at me for that." Jacky grumbled. "My own tactic being used against me and I didn't even notice it."

"Same here. Your crobat's Taunt totally threw Dolly off her tempo."

"You don't have a poison type on your team, right?" Jacky said as he looked at me curiously. "You should get one. Poison types are _awesome_. I can give you some recommendations if you need them. I have seen many poison types on my journey and I'd like to think that I am good enough to give sound recommendations."

"Not too sure about poison types joining my team." I admitted. "My body is actually really frail and I'm not sure if interacting with poison types will be detrimental to my health. The only poison type I interact with is a gengar and it has enough control over his body to make sure I don't breathe in his fumes."

"Get a pokemon with a secondary typing in poison then. Like my venusaur." Jacky commented. "These poison types aren't as toxic as the others, and they don't really produce poisonous fumes all the time. In fact, you know what? If your charizard or tyranitar ever have offsprings of their own, consider contacting me. I will trade you a suitable poison type for one of them. I may be a Poison Specialist, but I appreciate the strength of other pokemon types as well. Any offsprings from your charizard and tyranitar are too strong to pass up."

"… I will consider it." I answered after a while. "I never considered about the possibility of my pokemon having offsprings of their own for some reason. But if they are fine with it, I don't see why not."

My shadows suddenly moved, and I can see toxicroak visibly tensed at the unnatural movement. Macky suddenly appeared from within it in a loud cackle that scared the wits out of Jacky and me.

"Macky!" I half-admonished, half-exclaimed with a little bit of happiness in my voice. "Don't scare us like that!"

Macky continue to cackle with a naughty look on his face before floating down and allowed me to pat him, much to Jacky's surprise.

"Gengar allows you to touch him? I have seen a few trained ghosts before and none of them allowed their trainers to even touch them."

"Macky here belongs to my brother. He watched me grow up." I said as I passed Macky a pecha berry from my bag. If Macky is here, Vance shouldn't be too far behind. "We are close despite him not being my pokemon."

"Hmm… I should get myself a gengar too." Jacky said as he looked at Macky with a thoughtful expression on his face. "They are poison types too, and I think a ghost on my team would be a great idea."

"Be careful when trying to find one for yourself. Macky is very tame for a ghost, but the ones in the wild are absolutely vicious. Try catching yourself a gastly instead, it will be easier to break it into your team instead of a haunter or a gengar. Make sure that your pokemons are fully prepared too when you go about finding one, ghosts are very unpredictable and they will do anything to win, even at the cost of their own life. It's in their nature."

Jacky gave me a teasing look.

"I will take your advice to heart, _Ghost Mistress_."

" _Ugh_. Stop calling me that." I shuddered at hearing that particular moniker. "I'm nowhere near being knowledgeable about ghosts. I only know the basics, and my knowledge largely stagnates at dealing with banettes and gengars since I deal with these two species regularly. Whoever gave me that stupid name obviously doesn't know enough about ghosts."

"I beg to differ. Your knowledge about ghosts is already miles ahead of anyone that I know. Your banette is proof of that." Jacky said as he tried to feed Macky with some treats of his own, but Macky don't really seem interested in it and looked at it with wary eyes instead.

"These treats don't interest you, huh? Poison types usually love these." Jacky mumbled before taking out a different type of treat and tried to feed Macky with it, only to fail in his second attempt too.

"I think Macky is just cautious. He doesn't trust anyone else that he just met. He usually gobbles up any food he sees and is not really a picky eater."

"Ah, glad to know that then." Jacky said as he noted down what I just said using his phone before looking up at me. "Anything else I should know about ghosts before I go ghost hunting?"

"Just be careful and watch for the shadows. With a few exceptions, most ghosts love to hide in them no matter the species."

"Got it." Jacky continue to write down what I said before passing his phone to me.

"Mind putting your number in it? It's hard to find someone who knows what they are doing with ghosts. If you ever need someone to advise you on poison types, you can call me anytime as well."

"Sure." I took the phone and quickly typed in my number before passing it back to Jacky.

"Vel!"

I turned and saw my older brother walking to me with my parents behind. He quickly plopped himself down in between me and Jacky in a rather exaggerated manner, shoving me to one side.

What was that for?

"Hey there, name's Vance. I'm Vel's brother." Vance said as he offered Jacky his hand, which he accepted and shook it, although it looks like Vance is applying more force than needed.

"Nice to meet you, Vance. Name's Jacky." Jacky responded in kind before turning his attention to my parents and standing up to greet them politely.

"Both of you must be Mr and Mrs Vera. It's nice to meet you."

Dad gave a nod in acknowledgement before turning his attention to Jacky's toxicroak.

"That toxicroak is yours? Haven't seen such a fine specimen in such a long time."

"Thank you for your kind words, Mr Vera. It's reassuring to have someone who is as knowledgeable as you to reassure me that I am raising my toxicroak right." Jacky replied politely just as the nurses called out his name. "It seems that the nurses are done with healing my pokemon. I will see you sometime later, Velda. Don't lose to your next challenger, you hear me?"

"I got it." I replied as Jacky waved me goodbye before he went to collect his pokemons, his toxicroak following behind.

"What was that for?" I growled out as I pinched Vance with my fingers on his waist the moment Jacky left, eliciting a yelp from him. "He was being nice and polite. We were having such a fun discussion about pokemons too."

"Hey, no one comes and flirt with my little sister." Vance replied as he nursed the area where I had pinched him. "You are still too young to be dating!"

"The only thing I did was to _talk_ to him, you moron." I said as I gestured for Macky to hit Vance on the head, which he did. I tossed Macky another pecha berry as his reward. "I am only twelve. Why will I be dating at this age?"

"Going to be thirteen soon." Vance grumbled before yelping in pain as I pinched him again.

"Vel is starting to hit the age where she will start to notice boys." Dad said as if in deep thought before looking at me with a serious look.

"Vel, if any boy catches your eye, make sure to bring him home first so that we can get a good look at him, alright? You are not allowed to date any boys until we approve of him."

" _Dad_!" I whined. "I'm only _twelve_!"

" _Soon_ to be thirteen." Dad reiterate Vance's words before continuing his monologue. "Chewy should reach his final form by the time you found a boy for yourself. No boy is allowed to date you if he cannot defeat all three of my pokemons in a three on three battle."

"Whatever boy that catches Vel's attention must go through me as well." Vance stated with his arms crossed as he nodded in agreement with Dad's words.

"No kissing or touching too. And the boy needs to send Vel home before ten every time they go out for a date." Dad added on.

"And he needs to give an hourly report on where they are and what they are doing too. So that we know that she is safe." Vance said as he slung an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I covered my face with a palm and tried to melt into the floor. _This is so embarrassing!_

"Come on now, Vel is allowed to date if she feels ready for it. She is definitely mature enough to do so."

"No way, Mum." Vance said as he pulled me closer to him and hugged me protectively as I tried to make myself as small as possible and invisible to the world. Already, there are passers-by who are watching the strange dynamics and interactions of my family.

"There's no way some stupid boy is getting his grubby hands on our Vel. She deserves the best of the best. That guy better be able to at least defeat me and Dad in a battle before he can even think of coming near her. And don't you give your number to any random stranger, Vel!" Vance said that last part at me. "Who knows? That guy might be a creep!"

"Vance!"

"I need to make sure Chewy reaches his final evolution soon. I need to up his training when we get back home." Dad mumbled on, totally ignoring what I am saying as he got himself lost in his own world.

"I would be a wrinkly old lady by the time someone manages to defeat the both of you!"

"Good. Then no boys can get their hands on you."

Someone save me from the overprotective males of our family.

* * *

"Come on, why the long face?" Vance said as he pinched my cheeks and pulled them sideways and upwards. "Smiiiillle."

"Quit it." I slapped his hands away and gave him a glare. "I'm trying to think on how to defeat the next guy. You are distracting me."

Day had quickly turned into night after my family's run-in with Jacky earlier in the afternoon. The League Competition Committee had just released the match-ups for the semi-finals, and I am visualising all the possible ways I can use to defeat my next opponent in my head. Our family is on the way to find someplace to eat. Vance had taken some time off from his ACE duties until the final match is over. From what he said, he had purposely shifted all his duties to the earlier period of the month so that he can be free to watch the later matches where he is sure I will make my way to.

It's touching to see that my family has so much confidence in my ability to reach the semi-finals.

My next match will take place two days later and I am able to use the training field as often as I liked now since there are only four contestants left to use all the training fields available. I will get my team started on training first thing tomorrow morning.

"Don't fret too much. Fire Specialists are a lot easier to deal with than Poison. If you handled that Jacky guy and came out on top, then you should be fine with dealing with the next one."

"He made it to the Top 4, just like me. Our battle is not going to be easy. I definitely have to use Bigblue and Snap for the next match too."

"You have Snap, Bigblue, Kratos, and Toothless. These four alone can handle any fire type. See? Don't worry too much about it."

I ignored Vance in favour of plotting on how to win my next match as my family finally found a restaurant to have our dinner and sat down at an empty table. I frowned as I tried to think of ways that can help me win the next battle. My goal was to reach the Top 4, and I somehow made it against all odds. Since I had already climbed this high, I might as well set my sights higher and aim for the Top 2.

I don't think I can reach there though, no matter how optimistic I tried to be. For a trainer to qualify for the Top 2 in a conference would mean that he or she has some mad skills. Skills that I don't think I possess yet, or if I will ever possess at all. My ultimate goal isn't to be the strongest. Having those skills is kind of optional for me, I just need to be strong enough to defend myself against most threats.

Fang gave me a playful shove on my legs to break me out of my thoughts.

"Vance is right. Stop worrying about your coming match. You will do just fine." Dad said as he passed the menu to me.

I petted Fang absentmindedly as I looked through the menu. I can tell that the food here is expensive just by looking at the first few items on the menu.

But we are Veras. We are loaded with money. We don't dine lavishly often anyway, pampering ourselves occasionally is fine.

Fuzzy jumped onto Fang's head as the two of them went to tumble around nearby in a playful manner. Rena gave them a disapproving look but didn't say anything. Kel just lazed around beside my chair as Holly floated not far from where Mum is. Macky and Dolly should be somewhere nearby.

The dinner turned out to be a session of Mum showing off all the photos she took of me and my team during my match with Jacky earlier. I have to say, Mum does have a talent in photo taking.

"Look! My baby sister looks so beautiful in this picture!" Vance exclaimed as I kicked him under the table to lower his voice. He needs to stop embarrassing me in public. People are looking at us already damn it!

"This picture of her looks fine too." Dad said as he pointed at another picture that Mum had shared in our family's group chat. "Maybe we should print it out and frame it in our living room."

"No. I refuse."

"I think this one looks better, dear." Mum said as she pointed at another photo instead.

They are totally ignoring my opinion.

I looked through the photos Mum had taken of my pokemons instead. I think I would prefer printing those out and framing them as compared to displaying pictures of me. Maybe I should make a photo collage for my team? Our participation in the Ever Grande Conference is a milestone for us after all. We need something to remember it by.

Yup, that's what I will do the moment the conference is over.

* * *

If I thought the crowd was wild in the previous matches, they had nothing on this one.

They went insane the moment me and my opponent, Ajika Ulaha from the Alola region, appeared on our respective sides of the arena. The noise from the crowd is deafening and seeing such a huge crowd spectating my battle makes me want to hide in a corner. I don't really enjoy being the centre of attention of anything.

Still, I have a battle to compete and finish.

The pre-battle preparations were completed in a blink of an eye as the portraits of me and Ajika appeared on the big screen on the side of the arena. The crowd went wild once more the moment the psychic barriers were erected and both me and Ajika palmed and prime a pokeball in our hand. The dark-skinned teenage boy gave me a gentle smile, which I returned in kind.

It's time to introduce the dragon on my team to come out and play.

Ajika released a talonflame out for battle as I sent out Snap, who roared enthusiastically the moment he appeared, happy that it is finally his turn to shine.

"Sandstorm!"

With just a single flap of his wings, a massive sandstorm brewed and drastically reduced the visibility of the arena. The crowd cheered at seeing another member of my team finally making itself known.

A red flare of fire burst through the sandstorm and flew towards Snap, who began to fly away from the talonflame and blast at it with Dragon Pulses.

The talonflame used a Tailwind to boost its speed even further. Not only that, the wind increased the ferocity of its flames as it coated itself with fire with a Flare Blitz, zooming straight for Snap.

"Rock Slide!"

Snap rained rocks down onto the talonflame, which knocked away every single rock it encountered using only the sheer speed and force of its flight.

"Screech-sonic!"

Snap released an ear-splitting combination of Screech and Supersonic that disrupted talonflame's flight as it tried to shake off the effects. Snap wasted no time in unleashing a massive Dragon Pulse on the talonflame and sent it careening into the ground.

"Bury it!"

Snap used his powers over the ground and let the talonflame sink into the ground with an unnatural quicksand. The talonflame tried to get out, but beams of Dragon Pulses from Snap kept it in.

"Destroy it! Laser Beam!"

Snap briefly glowed with the use of Laser Focus before charging up a massive Hyper Beam in a second and shot it at the talonflame in a massive explosion. The talonflame lay unconscious on the ground the moment the smoke cleared.

This is a little too easy. Is there something that I am missing out on?

The next pokemon that Ajika sent out is one that I only saw a few times on TV before.

An alolan marowak appeared for battle with ghostly flames surrounding it. I have no idea what this particular species of marowak is capable of.

"Flame Wheel, stop the sandstorm!"

The marowak threw its club spinning in huge amount of its ghostly flames towards the centre of the arena. The vortex of fire grew larger and larger and began to suck in the entire sandstorm that Snap had previously called upon.

"Explode!"

The flames exploded in a ghostly shade of green flames that rocked the entire stadium. The flames were so huge that Snap had to use a Protect to defend himself from getting burned.

That is one overpowered marowak alright. It is also a ghost type, I need to get this ghost type out of our way. I don't have much knowledge about alolan marowaks and I don't want to find out now what it is capable of.

"Snap, return! Dolly, Suicide!"

Dolly placed a Curse and Toxic on the marowak, who hissed in pain at the unexpected move. The marowak attacked Dolly with a Shadow Bone but Dolly simply disappeared with Phantom Force and slammed the marowak away from her the moment she reappeared.

The marowak flipped itself in the air before landing on its feet. It lit itself on fire before charging right back in with a Flare Blitz.

"Shadow Ball Barrage!"

Dolly shot a huge amount of Shadow Balls at the marowak, who batted every single incoming Shadow Ball away expertly with its ghostly bone while continuing its charge. Dolly disappeared once more with Phantom Force and reappeared in the air this time, firing a huge beam of Dark Pulse at the marowak. The marowak skidded and turned around upon finding that its target had disappeared. It spun its bone at high speed to create a shield that blocked off Dolly's Dark Pulse. Its other paw starts to charge up a massive Shadow Ball before it fling the attack at Dolly, who simply evaded it.

"Sunny Day, then Flame Wheel!"

"Stop it!"

Dolly reappeared right beside the marowak with a Shadow Sneak and blasted a Hex at it, forcing it to stop whatever it is doing in favour of getting rid of Dolly. It used a Flame Charge that succeeded in hitting Dolly away from it. Too bad Dolly couldn't use Pain Split on marowak since it is a normal type move. This would be a lot easier otherwise.

The marowak seemed to be on its last legs given how much damage it had taken from Dolly's attack and the combination of Curse and Toxic being inflicted on it. We should be able to get it down soon. Dolly needs to be careful though, she is running on fumes as it is. Each of marowak's attacks that hit her did significant damage.

"Fire Blast!"

"Sucker Punch!"

Dolly disappeared and punched marowak in the gut, sending it flying away from her and crashing into the psychic barrier, taking it out.

We really got lucky with that one. The only reason why our battle progressed so smoothly is probably because Ajika didn't know I had Snap. He must have thought that my only fliers are Toothless and Fuzzy, and none of them are really capable of catching his talonflame in the air. Snap's Screech-sonic combo was instrumental in pulling off his sneak attack and grabbing us the first and easiest win.

We need to make full use of the momentum that we had gained now.

The next pokemon that appeared is another pokemon native to the Alola region, a salazzle.

I don't really know much about this pokemon other than the fact that it is a fire and poison type, that this particular one is a female since only the female of its species can evolve into a salazzle, and that salazzle has the ability to harm even steel and poison types with its poison.

In short, it is definitely a troublesome opponent. It might be better for Dolly to bring it down with a Destiny Bond, but I don't want to resort to that just yet. Destiny Bond is a last resort.

The salazzle released a huge cloud of poisonous fumes with Poison Gas, which Dolly immediately dispersed with Ominous Wind. The salazzle used that chance to get closer to Dolly and erupted the entire battlefield with a Flame Burst, turning it into a fiery hell in an instant.

The salazzle used a Nasty Plot before starting to shoot large cones of flames with Flamethrower. Dolly began to run and dodge the attacks as she started a Rain Dance to try and quell the flames while shooting her Shadow Balls.

"Dolly, Double Team!"

Dolly immediately multiplied in the air, but the salazzle merely narrowed its eyes slightly before unleashing a massive Heat Wave that can match Toothless's own, destroying every illusionary copies of Dolly.

Pain Split is also not an option here. It is too dangerous to even get close to the salazzle. Dolly has no way of healing herself.

The salazzle then used a Taunt. Damn it! There goes our option to use Destiny Bond!

"Dolly, Thunder!"

I need to get this salazzle down asap, or to weaken it as much as possible if Dolly does go down in battle against it.

A huge roaring thunder crashed into the salazzle from the rain clouds but the toxic lizard pokemon somehow withstood it and retaliated with a Dragon Pulse, taking Dolly out. I sent Rena out next, hoping that her psychic attacks is able to bring down the salazzle since it is part-poison.

"Rena, Psychic!"

Rena unleashed a huge blast of psychic energy which the salazzle physically destroyed with a powerful Knock Off. Just how strong is this lizard?!

"Torment!"

I physically cursed in my mind at that move. Now Rena is unable to use her most powerful moves repeatedly. She can't even use Calm Mind repeatedly now.

"Psybeam!"

Rena sent in psybeams at the salazzle instead, who destroyed her attacks in the same way as it did previously. The salazzle sent a massive Fire Blast at Rena, who mitigated the damage with a Light Screen.

The salazzle then began to make its way towards Rena again as Rena tried to keep her distance from it. Rena prepared a Future Sight as she tried to stop salazzle's advance with a Shadow Ball, but the salazzle is too nimble and dodged Rena's attacks and destroyed her Future Sight with dark type moves.

"Rena, Yawn!"

The salazzle began to act in a drowsy manner from Rena's Yawn, but not before going out in a huge blast of fire before the forced sleep kicks in.

"Overheat!"

The unexpected counter from salazzle bathed the entire arena in white hot flames. Rena had not been able to keep its distance from the salazzle and got the full brunt of it. I quickly returned Rena back to her pokeball, there's no way she can keep fighting after that.

I wasn't expecting Ajika's salazzle to be this powerful. It is an oversight on my part.

"Kratos, finish it! Stone Edge!"

Kratos appeared for battle and bashed the sleeping salazzle with a huge rock, finally taking it out.

I wasn't expecting Ajika to send out a volcarona to fight Kratos after he returned his salazzle back to his pokeball. Isn't that pokemon extremely weak against rock type attacks?

The volcarona immediately started off with a Quiver Dance, a move I know that absolutely cannot be allowed to use if we want to win.

"Stop it with Taunt!"

Kratos managed to stop volcarona from powering up even further although we were a little too late in doing so. The volcarona starts to engulf the entire area with flames by using a Fiery Dance, and Kratos immediately commanded the sands to snuff it out.

"Melt through it! Overdrive!"

The volcarona used a combination of Heat Wave, Fire Spin, and Fiery Dance together with Hurricane to produce the hottest and largest inferno of flames that I had ever saw in my life. Kratos's greatest attack and defense was rendered useless by the flames as it melted anything in the way.

Including his sand and rocks.

Kratos's rocks are not going to be of any use here. They would melt before they can even go close. I can see why Ajika is confident that his volcarona can bring Kratos down.

But Kratos is not a King without reason.

"Rain Dance! Then Kirin combo!"

I'm going to make full use of the heat the volcarona is giving out.

The storm clouds formed in an instant thanks to the heat and Kratos immediately started to direct Thunders after Thunders at the volcarona, each of them finding its target with ease. The volcarona retaliated with a Bug Buzz that somehow managed to critically injure Kratos. Its repeated use of Fiery Dance must have increased its offensive powers to very high levels.

"Get the tyranitar! Overdrive Flare Blitz!"

The volcarona immediately began charging at Kratos while still bathing itself in those extremely hot flames. There's nowhere else Kratos can go. The underground would be too hot with all the flames the volcarona had been releasing all these while. Kratos can't fly, at least not yet. I haven't got him to ride platforms of sand as how Gaara from the Naruto series did. The best he can do right now is ride on a wave of sand, which will not be of much help here.

The only way now is forward.

"Dragon Dance and Giga Impact!"

Kratos acknowledged my command and charged to meet the volcarona after powering up. A large explosion occurred at the point of impact that caused the psychic barriers to flicker erratically and everyone, including Ajika and me, to crouch down and find cover. The battle is simply too destructive.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the outcome the moment everything died down. Kratos, the strongest member of my team, has been brought down.

This isn't part of the plan.

The only good thing is that Kratos had managed to bring the volcarona down as well. This is a double knockout, but this outcome had screwed my plans over. I was banking on Kratos to at least take out a few more of Ajika's pokemons before going down, if that was ever happening. I had never thought that Kratos would lose. It had never crossed my mind. I had severely underestimated what a Fire Specialist can do.

They melt and burn through all opposition. A very straightforward and direct way of battling, but a very effective way too if you have the strength behind it. Even water evaporates if the flames are hot enough.

Fire is an unstoppable force of nature if wielded right.

Ajika immediately released a turtonator for battle next and I sent out Snap. If my experiences from this conference tells me anything, it is that battles of the higher levels tend to be very fast paced and you hardly have anytime to react and give commands to your pokemon. Most of the time, a few moves are enough to knock a pokemon out of commission as the attacks are just that strong. Jacky's battle with me is a very good example.

Snap is fully capable of handling himself even without my guidance. I can trust him to battle on his own.

Turtonator seems to be a dragon type too, if I recall my facts right. Typing wise, I probably have the advantage, although I won't be counting on it. Ajika's volcarona did managed to bring down Kratos with it somehow despite the type disadvantage it faced.

Flygon led in with a Sandstorm followed by a Dragon Pulse which the turtonator responded in kind. Every ranged attack that Snap threw at it is deflected or blocked off by turtonator's own as it slowly heated up the battlefield. We cannot allow that to happen.

"Screech-sonic!"

"Heat Wave! Blow the air away!"

Snap's Screech-sonic combo didn't reach turtonator at all as the hot air from turtonator blew the winds in our direction, not allowing turtonator to hear Snap's vocal attack. I didn't know Heat Wave can be used in this manner, this is something that I need to take note of in the future.

This turtonator's battling style is slowly forcing Snap to engage it in a close-up fight. A fight that I am not sure if Snap can win. Close up fights is not Snap's forte even if he is good enough at it.

I don't have any other choice though.

"Snap, Fly and Dragon Dance!"

Snap flew high up in the air as he began a Dragon Dance to boost himself with power. Ajika grinned, which immediately sent warning bells ringing in my head.

"Draco Meteor!"

Oh shit.

"Snap, run!"

Large number of meteors imbued with draconic energy rained from the sky as Snap immediately went on the run to escape from the attack. He blasted any meteors that got too close with his own attacks and used a Protect to defend himself from the worst of it. However, he is now too close to the ground.

"Get the flygon!"

The turtonator's shell exploded and the turtonator charged towards Snap, the explosive force propelling it forward like a missile. Snap roared in challenge and rammed at the turtonator with a Dragon Rush, who had somehow turned around in time and used its shell to defend itself.

"Activate Shell Trap!"

The entire area exploded again with turtonator's shell as the origin of the explosion. Snap got himself caught up in it and immediately distanced himself from his foe although the flames had already gotten to him. _What_ the hell is that attack? Is it an attack unique to the turtonator species?! I had never seen anything like this before!

Snap's health is now brought down to dangerously low levels. He can use Roost to heal himself, but I doubt the turtonator will give him that opportunity. Snap will probably lose here. I could recall him right now, but he is the best candidate in bringing down this turtonator. I need him now.

If Snap is going down, then we will go out in a blaze of glory.

"Snap, finish it with Meteor Rush!"

Snap acknowledged my command and rushed at the turtonator with another Dragon Rush, a large amount of draconic energy forming at the front of his opened jaws. The turtonator tried to turn around to use its shell to defend itself once more, but Snap isn't stupid. There's no way the both of us will let it use the same trick on us twice.

The turtonator is now unable to turn around as it is quickly sinking down in quicksand.

"Overheat! Take down the flygon!"

Turtonator unleashed massive flames of Overheat as Snap pushed past it and emerged from the flames, battered but determine to at least injure the turtonator as much as possible before going down.

"Draco Meteor!"

Snap's Draco Meteor was unleashed right in front of the turtonator and another massive explosion occurred, blasting both pokemons away from each other and slamming into the psychic barriers on the edge of the arena. The turtonator managed to get back up on its feet, heavily injured but still able to continue going. Snap, however, had succumbed to his burns and laid unconscious on the ground.

He might have lost to turtonator, but his performance was still spectacular.

Both Ajika and I have two pokemons left. I still have another powerhouse in the form of Toothless, but sending a fire type out against a Fire Specialist probably is probably a bad idea. Ajika could possibly think of a hundred ways to bring Toothless down in the same time I try to come out with one to defeat his. Thankfully, his turtonator is on its last legs. I just need to bring it down as fast as possible just in case it is able to heal itself back up.

Only one option then.

"Bigblue, drown it!"

An extremely large wave of water erupted from below the ground and approached the turtonator like a tsunami the moment I sent Bigblue out. The turtonator tried to disperse the waters with a Flash Cannon, but the wave of water is too big for his attack to have any visible effects.

There's nowhere for it to run.

"Brave through the waters! Take out the swampert with the biggest flames ever!"

Biggest flames ever? What is it this time?

The turtonator charged through the waters using the explosive force produced by its shell and flew straight towards Bigblue before glowing a blindingly white.

 _Explosion_. That's what he's planning.

The stadium rocked from the impact of another explosion for the umpteenth time that day. Bigblue just remained at his previous spot untouched and unfazed as his shield of Protect defended him from harm. The unconscious form of turtonator lay beneath his feet, taken out by his own kamikaze attack.

The crowd roared at the display and Ajika took out the pokeball that contains the last member of his team that he will be sending out.

A blaziken appeared for battle and the crowd definitely went insane this time round. A battle between Hoenn's regional starters. I can already imagine the reporters writing the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers.

"Quick Attack and Sky Uppercut!"

Blaziken moved as a blur as it approached Bigblue. Blaziken is largely a physical fighter, which can only mean one thing.

Its defeat is imminent no matter how strong the blaziken can be in close combat. The only way it can face Bigblue on equal ground is only if it has some tricks on its own to fight a long-distance battle. Bigblue had grown to be a force of nature ever since our Sootopolis gym challenge. He is equally capable of long and close-range combat and able to adapt to almost any kind of circumstances.

"Bigblue, you know what to do."

Bigblue bellowed and immediately used his powers over the ground, rocks, and water to battle against the blaziken.

The ground of the entire arena immediately liquified, which almost tripped blaziken as it sank knee-deep into the mud. The multiple explosions of our battle thus far had made it extremely easy for Bigblue to turn the rocky ground into mud. Bigblue isn't done yet, and conjured a massive Whirlpool that caged the entire arena and washed blaziken in it, throwing it around like a ragdoll.

Bigblue had now changed the domain into his own natural habitat: a swamp.

The blaziken tried to get out of the trap that it is still sinking into by producing a large amount of fire on the bottom of its feet to propel itself out of there, but Bigblue disrupted its every attempt with a Water Pulse. Bigblue raised countless rocks and rained them down on the blaziken which steadily whittle down its health.

"Dry up the ground with Flame Burst!"

"Hydro Pump!"

Bigblue sent a massive vortex of water from his mouth and crashed it into the blaziken, who have no other means to defend itself since its greatest asset, its speed, is being disabled. The blaziken was sent flying into the air and is now greatly injured from Bigblue's attack.

"Now, Solar Beam!"

Bigblue raised wall of rocks that blocked the Solar Beam from the blaziken, who is now simultaneously using its flames to dry the area around it so that the ground is now hard enough for it to run on. It is sticking to ranged moves since it is wary of Bigblue catching it again in his domain if it got too near.

"Rain Pulse!"

Bigblue used a Rain Dance that immediately summoned the rain clouds. What is unique about this Rain Pulse combo is that it won't be simply raining water.

It will rain Water Pulses.

Large amount of Water Pulses dropped down from the sky instead of raindrops as the blaziken is now trying to frantically defend itself from the attack. Bigblue took this time to increase the area of his swamp and slowly encroach onto the area that blaziken is standing at, giving it lesser space to work with.

Bigblue excels at playing the waiting game as long as the domain is set in his favour. Blaziken never stood a chance. This blaziken is strong, no doubt about it, but it got itself matched with the wrong opponent.

Ajika was simply unlucky that I have Bigblue on my team. The secrecy that I was so adamant on had paid off in spades. Ajika didn't have the time to plan a way to counter Bigblue simply because he didn't know Bigblue exists and what he is capable of.

And because of that, we will win this battle.

"Bigblue, hold blaziken in place, then Hydro Cannon."

Bigblue commanded the swamp as it now moved like a living being under Bigblue's control and wash towards blaziken in a wave of mud. The blaziken tried to defend itself from it on top of the rain of Water Pulses, a combo that Bigblue and I had spent an extremely long time devising and perfecting with Juan's help. I lost count on how many phone calls I had made to him when trying to present my crazy idea to him.

The mud wrapped itself around the blaziken, who is now lighting itself up with a Flare Blitz to dry the viscous mud and then break free from it. However, it won't be fast enough.

A humongous watery blast impacted against the blaziken and washed it out of the arena. The blaziken lay there defeated. Even the crowd had gone silent after Bigblue's display of power.

Bigblue gave a loud bellow that broke the crowd out of their silent reverie, which then began to erupt into a deafening cheer. A smile slowly broke across my face.

 _I did it! I made it to the Top 2!_

I ran down to give Bigblue an excited hug, which he returned. He is still as reliable as ever. I'm so proud of him!

My big and blue swampert, the one which have been with me ever since the start of my journey. He just singlehandedly turned the tide of the battle! Quite literally too!

I am just so _happy_!

* * *

 **AN: I think the portion of this chapter towards the end is a little lacking due to how Bigblue fights, but I think this is a more realistic way of how Bigblue will handle any foes that mainly deals physical damage given what he is capable of since he was introduced in chapter 2.**

 **I remembered someone requesting in the reviews to have a blaziken in the matches quite sometime back, and it inspired me to have Vel face a Fire Specialist. So here it is, although I feel kind of sorry for making blaziken underwhelming. However, I honestly think that a close-range fighter like blaziken would not stand any chance against Bigblue, one of Vel's best fighters.**

 **The next chapter probably won't come out so soon, since my internship will be starting tomorrow. Expect much slower updates after this chapter, although I will still be actively writing.**

 **In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 12, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Reincarnated Soul (to be kept a secret until the day she dies again)**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**


	29. Chapter 29- Milestone

Alola's pokemons are really interesting.

"-And they can also thump their bones in a specific rhythm to communicate among themselves. The professor I knew had said that marowaks uses at least 50 different rhythmic patterns. This trait of alolan marowaks is not that much different from the ones you usually see in Kanto."

On demonstration, Ajika's alolan marowak began to thump its bone in a rhythmic manner.

"We Alola folks sometimes call alolan marowaks the 'mourning pokemon'. Alolan marowaks are very loyal to their companions. If one of their kind dies, the rest of them will make a grave for it and dance around them. There are funeral rituals in certain parts of Alola that took inspiration from these guys."

I listened intently as Ajika gave me a crash course on the unique pokemons found in the Alola region. I had become fast friends with the gentle and kind boy as he very helpfully teach me more about his alolan marowak, which is also his starter. Ajika's alolan marowak had healed relatively faster than his other pokemon, which the nurses had largely attributed to its part-ghost typing. Ghosts tend to heal from physical damage a lot faster than other types of pokemon.

The both of us are lounging about in the pokemon centre as the nurses went about doing their job to heal our team. Bigblue was relatively unharmed in our battle, and so the nurses had cleared him within minutes after giving him a checkup. He is now resting by my side as he watches the alolan marowak curiously, who is now giving a little dance while thumping its bone.

"Alola sounds like an interesting place to be in. I would like to visit there someday."

"You should come!" Ajika said brightly and his excitement is really infectious. How can someone be so cheery? "Give me a call when you arrive, I will personally show you around. There are some very strong and unique pokemon in Alola too! You should try catching some pokemon there for yourself. And oh! Ever heard of Ultra Beasts? They are like some new type of pokemon that arrive from a totally dimension from ours! They are ridiculously strong too, although they are very rare to come across. We Alola folks give them a very wide berth if we ever see them since they are so strong. Even I don't know if my entire team can beat them."

I blinked my eyes. I _might_ have heard of Ultra Beasts in my previous life, I am not too sure since I didn't play pokemon Sun and Moon, or was it Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon? Whatever the game was called. I really don't know much about the pokemons beyond the Sinnoh region when I first arrived here. I didn't play the pokemon game beyond Pokemon Platinum. Most information or knowledge that I currently have about these pokemons beyond the Sinnoh region are gained in my second life.

"I know, sounds unbelievable, right? I didn't believe the legends of the Ultra Beasts until one of it nearly destroyed the town next to mine a few years back."

"I might have heard of that incident, although I can't remember what pokemon it was that did it."

"The authorities didn't report which pokemon did it, they censored the news. I only know the culprit was an Ultra Beast since it happened so close to home. The authorities' logic was something along the line of not wanting to cause a mass panic or attract idiotic trainers to go and try their luck in catching it. I agree with the authorities' judgement, actually. Ultra Beasts are not to be messed with." Ajika said as he ate some roasted nuts that he had also kindly offered me, saying that it is a local delicacy of his homeland.

Damn, now I really want to go to Alola. It sounds like an exciting place.

Alola has a totally different and unique culture from the other regions. It is a place that has a heavy emphasis on tradition. It is also a place full of history and mystery. It's like a new frontier, a little wild and untamed but yet there is enough sense and order in that place to allow its citizens to live peacefully.

The Alola region is the last region to join the PWL and is relatively young as compared to other regions. Unlike the other regions, they don't experience much conflict before their unification. The only reason why they took so long to declare themselves as a region is because their four main islands that made up the region tend to mind their own business, until someone suggested that it might be a good idea for all four islands to come together, set up their own region, and then join the PWL.

"I'm kind of envious of Hoenn for having its own conference, you know? Alola tried having our own conference many times, but every attempt we did didn't really feel quite right."

I tilt my head curiously.

"I thought that Alola does have its own conference? It's just that you guys have a different way to test if the trainer qualifies to enter the conference."

"That was in the past." Ajika explained as he gestured with his hands to better illustrate his point. "We tried having gyms too. The standard gym circuit with eight gyms like all other regions have, but we faced heavy opposition from the older locals who are adamant on sticking with the tradition of our region. Every time we hosted our own conference there are bound to be some unhappy sentiments from the older folks. There were a few times when a riot actually took place. In the end, the Alola league decided to postpone hosting our own conference until they found a way to make everyone happy. The lack of an Alola conference is why I am here too. I want to test myself against skilled trainers and I decided to try Hoenn out this year."

"I am glad you came to Hoenn." I said as I popped more of Ajika's roasted nuts into my mouth. "I learned a lot from you, both in our battle and our conversation. After hearing what you said about Alola, I am really tempted to go there after this conference."

Ajika smiled and his alolan marowak did a happy dance the moment they heard what I said.

"If you do visit, Alola welcomes you, Vel."

"You two must be Ms Vera and Mr Ulaha. It's nice to meet you."

Both Ajika and I turned our heads to face the source of the unfamiliar voice. I recognised who that person is immediately.

Tucker.

To be more specific, this Tucker is the one who will eventually grow to be the trainer known as Dome Ace Tucker. The same Tucker that will be the Frontier Brain and the head of the Battle Dome in the future.

Hoenn's Battle Frontier has not been set up yet and there is no news about it either. Right now, Tucker is not yet the Dome Ace. Right now, he is a challenger of this year's conference.

Like me.

Fortunately, he is not yet dressed in the outrageous outfit that I am familiar with in the games. He is currently dressed in a purple tuxedo with his long purple hair tied up in a low ponytail. Everything about him is purple.

"Ah! You are Tucker, aren't you? I saw your battles. You are good."

"Thank you, Mr Ulaha. Your battles were spectacular as well."

Ajika rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at the praise.

"Call me Ajika." He then gestured to me using his hands, introducing me to Tucker. "This is Vel, we just finished our match. Vel will be advancing to the Top 2."

I saw a glint in Tucker's eyes as he looked at me.

"Then we will be facing each other in battle. I only just finished my match as well. I hope we can have an exciting match, Velda. It would be nice to have a match with a fellow Generalist."

"I won't go easy on you." I said as we both shook hands with each other. "So feel free to go all out."

"I would expect nothing less from an adversary such as yourself." Tucker said with a grin. "I plan to win this year's conference. No hard feelings."

"No hard feelings." I agreed.

The three of us conversed for a short while before we all went our separate ways. I frowned in thought as I collected my pokeballs from the nurses and head towards the training field immediately.

This is the future Frontier Brain that I would be facing. Even without my prior knowledge of him, it is easy to tell that Tucker is strong. I know that much when I watched his performance thus far. He is also a Generalist like me. There's no telling what other tricks he will be showing during our match.

I will really need to pull out all the stops if I want to win.

* * *

The date of the final match of every year's Ever Grande Conference is set on the last day of August, which coincides on my birthday.

My family had wanted to celebrate my birthday with me before the day of the final match, but after seeing me so engrossed in training and preparing my team for my match with Tucker, they decided to postpone the celebration to after the match instead. Even Flannery had made her way down to Ever Grande one day before my match to spectate my performance, although she puts on some disguises whenever she is moving around in public. She is a famous public figure of Hoenn, and with that comes several inconveniences when it comes to her personal life.

Mum adores Flannery. In fact, she is already snapping at Vance to hurry up and marry her already, much to both of their embarrassment.

My match with Tucker will commence tomorrow. It will be my 13th birthday tomorrow too. It's still a little surreal to think that I have been in this world for thirteen years already.

How time flies.

Dad seems to be in a very good mood seeing that he brought all of us to dine in some posh restaurant that only the rich patronise for today's dinner. He was adamant that Flannery join us as well, and it is very entertaining to see Vance and Flannery acting awkwardly around Dad and Mum whenever the both of them are together.

It is Flannery's first meeting with my parents after all. It is understandable that she is nervous about it.

That doesn't stop me from teasing her though.

"So." I moved to walk beside Flannery and asked cheekily as we made our way to the restaurant for dinner. "When are you two tying the knot? _Sis-in-law_."

Flannery grabbed me in a chokehold and gave me a noogie.

"Alright, you little squirt. Tease me some more, why don't you?"

"Vance! Your future wife is murdering me! Help!"

Vance continued to walk on ahead while whistling, pretending not to hear my cry for help.

"Macky!"

Macky appeared from Vance's shadow and made a face at me before disappearing. He is enjoying seeing me getting noogied by Flannery.

"Traitors!"

"They know better than to cross me." Flannery replied with a grin as she let me go. "I have them whipped."

I gave a sagely nod of approval at her words.

"This is a skill that all women of the Vera house need to know and master. It will be impossible to rein in the guys otherwise."

"You two don't have me-"

"What did you just say?"

Both Flannery and I gave Vance a deceptively sweet smile. He has only one chance to correct himself before we make his life hell for him.

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, ma'am!"

I can see Mum giving her nod of approval from the peripheral of my vision. She totally approves of Flannery since she definitely have Vance wrapped around her little finger.

The Vera house will definitely be livelier with Flannery around. She and Vance are both good for each other.

It will take a while, but I cannot wait to have Flannery as my older sister.

* * *

There are six pokemons that I narrowed down after watching all of Tucker's matches. These are the pokemons that Tucker will most likely be sending out against me during our battle.

All of them are insanely strong.

Facing Tucker feels like facing Vance in battle. Like Vance, Tucker has both of Hoenn's pseudo-legendaries on his team and the members of his team cover each other's weaknesses perfectly too. Tucker had obviously put a lot of thought into what kinds of pokemons he wants on his team.

If I have to be honest with myself, I don't stand much of a chance in winning this match. Unlike mine, Tucker's team is built to win. My team is a mishmash of random pokemons that joined me on my journey because most of them were somehow convinced by my talk-no-jutsu, or they were given to me by someone else. Come to think of it, I don't think I have caught a wild pokemon through a battle yet.

I don't really care if I became the champion of this year's conference or not. Being the strongest is Vance's dream, not mine. I just want to try my best in this conference since I am already here. The fact that some members of my team enjoy the battles thus far is another motivation for me to continue battling too.

I just want to enjoy taking part in this year's conference.

I stepped up onto the challenger's box as I etched the sight of the crowd roaring in excitement into my mind. This would probably be the last time I will ever take part in a competition as huge as the Ever Grande Conference. It was fun, but it is also tiring trying to outdo everyone else.

I need a long and relaxing break after this.

Tucker enjoys the attention on him as he waved at the crowd when the announcer presented him to the audience. The both of us gave each other a nod. This will be the final battle for the 528th Ever Grande Conference.

I want to make this battle an epic one.

The crowd went silent as Tucker and I took out a pokeball each. On an unspoken signal, the both of us released our first pokemon into the arena.

The final battle has begun.

Lily appeared with a gurgle as Tucker's gardevoir levitated itself in mid-air with a faint blue outline of psychic energy coating its form.

"Psychic!"

Tucker wasted no time in trying to take Lily out as fast as possible, knowing that Lily's defense gets stronger the longer she is in battle.

Lily responded by sending an overpowered Energy Ball at the wave of psychic energy, resulting in a huge explosion. The gardevoir escaped by teleporting upwards before sending waves of Psychic at Lily once more, determined to take Lily out.

"Mirror Coat!"

Lily withstood gardevoir's attacks and sent them straight back at gardevoir, who was taken aback by this surprise manoeuvre and did not escape in time. Lily followed up with a massive Rock Slide, sending a large amount of sharp rocks in gardevoir's direction and hoping to take the psychic pokemon out for good.

The gardevoir quickly recovered and teleported away from danger before trying to hit Lily with a Psyshock. It is a good move, since Lily's battle style revolves around raising her defensive powers as much as possible. Psyshock deals more damage the higher the opponent's defences are. It is a suitable move to use against Lily.

"Substitute!"

Lily created a copy of herself that took the Psyshock on her behalf. Lily recovered her lost health quickly with a Recover before shifting the earth. Rock spikes ruptured violently from the ground to hit the gardevoir and it was forced to evade the attack once more with a Teleport.

We need to do something about that gardevoir's ability to Teleport all over the place.

"Lily, make it rain! Don't let it have a safe place to Teleport to!"

Lily immediately rained boulders all over the arena with a massive Rock Slide and the gardevoir was forced to use a Reflect to create a temporary shelter for itself. The only safe place for it to Teleport to will be outside the psychic barriers or within grabbing distance of Lily's tentacles.

"Moonblast! Destroy the cradily!"

The gardevoir conjured a huge amount of energy before blasting it at Lily, who used a Protect to defend itself. Gardevoir must have been constantly using Calm Mind to raise its offensive powers, the power of that Moonblast is too strong for it to be a normal Moonblast.

To my surprise, the gardevoir used a Shadow Sneak to get close to Lily and hit Lily with a powerful Psychic. Lily hissed in pain but went to grab the gardevoir while trying to heal herself. The gardevoir teleported out of grabbing range before sending another beam of Moonblast at Lily, who shifted herself away from danger with Rock Surf.

This is getting nowhere.

"Make it bloom with Grass Knot! Grab it!"

The entire rocky arena turned into a grassland as Lily grew blades of grass from the ground and sent them all towards gardevoir. The sheer area that Lily's Grass Knot covered is mindblowing. It will be hard for gardevoir to evade Lily's attack since the entire arena is now under Lily's control.

To its credit, Tucker's gardevoir didn't panic as it simply tore through the blades of grass with a massive Psychic. Gardevoir charged up another Moonblast and teleported to where Lily is once more, trying to deal huge amount of damage to Lily before she can react to the danger.

"Flash! Blind it!"

Lily flashed a bright white which forced everyone to close their eyes. Lily took the opportunity to get her tentacles on gardevoir and immediately used a Wring Out combined with Giga Drain, sapping away gardevoir's strength at a rapid rate. The gardevoir looks like it tried to Teleport itself away from the danger, but the sudden loss of its strength prevented it from doing so.

The gardevoir is losing, fast.

"Lily, end it with Solar Beam!"

"Destiny Bond!"

Tucker gave me another surprise when gardevoir took Lily down with Destiny Bond. The gardevoir species are capable of learning that move?!

The stadium shook as the crowd roared at the unexpected outcome. With that one move, Tucker had taken out my best defensive battler.

I can see why he will be chosen by Scott to be a Frontier Brain in the future, if things do pan out in that manner.

"Snorlax, appear for battle!"

I grimaced as a snorlax was released for battle. The entire stadium tremored as snorlax stomped on the ground in a grumpy rage.

Even for Elite trainers, the snorlax species is a highly dangerous species to handle. They are absurdly strong in battle, but the only instinct they have is to eat, eat, and then eat some more. They get into a fit of rage if they are denied food and they can destroy ecosystems by overfeeding. It is hard for trainers to tame it as snorlax only ever cares about food. It is even harder for trainers to get their respect and it is near impossible to find a trainer that is able to get a snorlax to listen to its every command. Even Norman chose not to raise a snorlax despite the fact that the species boasts strong offensive and defensive powers together with versatility. It is a species of pokemon that many trainers will want to get for themselves if it wasn't for their notorious reputation.

I also cannot help but wonder how Tucker managed to feed his snorlax constantly without going broke. Surely it must be expensive keeping a snorlax on his team?

Realistically, there's only one pokemon on my team that has a chance against this snorlax.

"Dolly, bring it down like we planned!"

Dolly appeared in a ghostly shriek as she immediately used a Skill Swap to trade abilities with the snorlax. With that, Dolly now possess either the Immunity or Thick Fat ability, while snorlax now possess Dolly's Insomnia. The Insomnia ability will prevent snorlax to heal up by sleeping with Rest, which is a favourite move for snorlaxs.

Snorlax doesn't seem very pleased at this sudden turn of events, and it made its displeasure known by trying to squash Dolly with a Smack Down.

"Anti-tank manoeuvres, take it down!"

Dolly used a quick combination of Curse and Toxic before splitting snorlax's health with her equally with a Pain Split. She is getting very good at sabotaging her opponents. Tucker's snorlax is strong, but it is too slow to keep up with Dolly.

"Earthquake, then Surf!"

Snorlax probably nearly took down the stadium with its Earthquake with how violent the attack is. I don't know about Tucker, but I had fell on my ass the moment snorlax used Earthquake and only got back up after it died down. Dolly had somehow evaded that attack and now snorlax is trying to get to her with a series of Thunder Punch and spewing Flamethrowers from its mouth. Despite its large size, Tucker's snorlax is very nimble and the series of punches is so rapid that I could barely make out the punches with my eyes.

One of the punches got to Dolly and just a single blow brought her health down to critical levels. Dolly healed up by dodging snorlax's next attack with a Phantom Force and then used the effect of the attack to sneak up to snorlax and share her pain with Pain Split once more.

"Don't let it use Destiny Bond! Slowly wear it down with Whirlpool!"

How does snorlax even learn how to use Whirlpool?

Dolly sneaked out of her watery confinement with a Shadow Sneak and immediately went to attack snorlax with a huge beam of Dark Pulse. However, Dolly's attack simply bounced off its thick hide. Snorlax responded with a Fire Punch this time, aiming to injure Dolly but not bringing her down immediately in case she decided to use Destiny Bond.

They underestimated what Dolly can really do. They underestimated the true nature of Ghosts. Ghosts have the tendency to bring down their opponents with whatever it takes as long as it gets the job done.

To do anything as long as the job gets done. No matter what it takes. No matter the cost. That is what Ghosts truly are.

"Dolly! One-for-one! Do it!"

Dolly shrieked once more as she purposely cut her health down with Curse again at the last second and let the Fire Punch hit her. That move took her out, but not before she placed a Destiny Bond on snorlax as well. With that, the troublesome normal type is now out of the picture.

If Tucker can bring down my best defensive battler with Destiny Bond, I can damn well do it too.

Tucker seemed surprised by that suicidal move Dolly and I just performed. The only purpose of Dolly's second use of Curse is to make her health low enough to be taken out by that Fire Punch. It is a move that I don't like to use since it can be very fatal for Dolly if even a single step was done wrongly, but I have faith in her. She didn't let me down.

Tucker's next pokemon is a salamence, who roared its challenge at me from the sky the moment it appeared. I took out Snap's pokeball and released him for battle. So far, neither Tucker nor I have the advantage over the other. We both have four pokemons left to battle.

Snap responded to salamence's challenge with a roar of his own and the two dragons immediately battled for dominance in an aerial battle. The two dragons that are native to the Hoenn region zipped around in the sky at speeds that are too fast for the human eye to keep up as the crowd cheered wildly in excitement. I don't think Tucker can make out what is really happening in the sky either. Our dragons are just too damn fast.

A high-pitched Screech nearly burst our eardrums and I recognised it as one of Snap's favourite tactics to surprise his opponents. A Dragon Rush from him sent Tucker's salamence hurtling to the ground.

"Laser Pulse! Don't let up!"

Snap fired numerous beams of Dragon Pulse repeatedly that were empowered by Laser Focus and salamence responded to Snap's assault with its own Dragon Pulse. The salamence seems to run out of patience and flew into the sky once more, wanting to engage Snap in a close-up fight.

"Sandstorm!"

Snap immediately unleashed a huge sandstorm to blend himself in with the surroundings. This is the environment that Snap works best in.

"Twister! Get rid of the Sandstorm!"

In a surprising application of Twister, salamence actually managed to quell Snap's Sandstorm by creating a vicious tornado of draconic energy that disrupted Snap's attack. Snap wasn't deterred and continue to attack with a mixture of Dragon Pulse and Dragon Breath.

"Double Team! Then Twister again!"

Salamence created a sea of illusory copies to hide itself before creating a bigger Twister than the previous one, sucking Snap into that attack. Snap broke out of it with Air Cutter and used a deafening Boomburst to destroy salamence's Double Team.

 _Where did the salamence go?_

An Outrage from above bashed Snap into the ground. At this rate, Snap will get destroyed by the rampaging salamence.

"Land Wave! Drag the salamence down!"

Snap liquefied the ground and moved it in an attempt to snare salamence and then drag him underneath. Salamence continued its rampage and charged through Snap's attack, sending him skidding back with a swipe of its claws.

Not good. The difference in power between Snap and salamence is just too glaringly obvious. The salamence is not giving us time to heal up too.

Snap _will_ go down, the conclusion of this battle is obvious by now. We need to damage salamence as much as possible before Snap gets himself knocked out.

"Draco Meteor!"

Snap flew up into the sky and rained down his Draco Meteor onto salamence. Fortunately for us, Snap managed to get a clean hit in. Unfortunately for us, salamence is still in the game and went to thrash Snap with its claws once more, taking Snap out.

"Toothless! Dragon Pulse!"

Toothless roared and sent his attack at the salamence, who is now trying to catch its breath after its previous rampage. Somehow, the salamence withstood the full blast of Toothless's attack and used a _Hydro Pump_ , forcing Toothless to abort firing more attacks and fly into the air to evade the water type move.

I need to find out from Vance later on whether a salamence learning Hydro Pump is within the realm of possibility. Tucker has been giving me surprises after surprises today.

Toothless bathed the arena with Inferno in his attempt to cook salamence alive, forcing salamence to fly into the air to avoid Toothless's flames. I can tell salamence is feeling some degree of fatigue after that Outrage, we can capitalise on this.

"Tailwind! Don't let the salamence rest!"

Toothless increased his speed with a Tailwind and immediately adopted a hit-and-run tactic by slashing at the salamence with his claws before retreating and then repeat this entire process at high speeds. Salamence tried to match Toothless's speed, but the fatigue it is feeling after its Outrage and Toothless's increase in speed is too much for it to handle. There are a few times when it actually accidentally hurt itself unnecessarily by knocking into the psychic barriers when the aerial battle got a little too close to the edge of the arena.

"Salamence, Aerial Ace and then go for Draco Meteor up close!"

"Seismic Toss! Redirect salamence's attack!"

Toothless expertly stopped salamence's Aerial Ace and grabbed salamence by its neck right when the salamence tried to eradicate Toothless with its own Draco Meteor. Toothless twisted his body and got out of the way and then redirect the Draco Meteor by pointing salamence's opened jaws down at the ground, allowing him to evade the attack unscathed. Taking advantage of his hold over salamence, Toothless then threw salamence down into the ground with a Seismic Toss.

"End it!"

Toothless shot a Dragon Pulse at salamence, taking the dragon out of the battle.

Tucker and I are now back to a stalemate.

Tucker sent out his own charizard into battle. I had been expecting this to happen when I found out that Tucker has a charizard as well.

Tucker's charizard is bigger than Toothless. Even though Toothless had reached the last stage of his evolution, he is still a child. He is not even two years old yet. Tucker's charizard, on the other hand, is definitely an adult with how large it is in size.

" **Flamethrower**!"

The moment Tucker and I both gave our commands, our charizards blasted cones of hot flames at each other while zooming around in the air. Toothless will probably be at a disadvantage if the fight gets physical, he is just a little too small for a charizard due to his young age.

"Get close to that charizard! Flare Blitz!"

Damn it, Tucker.

Tucker's charizard charged at Toothless and no matter how Toothless tried to avoid the attack, Tucker's charizard is still hot on his tail.

"Smokescreen!"

Toothless spewed out a black cloud of smoke but Tucker's charizard dispersed it with a flap of its wings. Toothless took this chance to attack with a Dragon Pulse, only for his opponent to evade it and returned fire with its own Dragon Pulse before trying to close the distance again.

Tucker's charizard score a hit on Toothless with a Thunder Punch and immediately followed up with more Thunder Punches. Toothless defended himself from the attacks with Shadow Claw instead, he is not well-versed in Thunder Punch like Tucker's charizard.

"Toothless, take the Thunder Punch and then Counter!"

Toothless braced himself for a hit and immediately sent two times the damage back to Tucker's charizard. This got Tucker's charizard reeling from the attack and Toothless took this opportunity to use an Ancient Power, critically injuring Tucker's charizard.

"Attract!"

 _What the holy moly flying pancakes?!_

I can tell that Tucker's charizard is a female due to the much shorter length of its front tooth. I just never thought that Tucker will ever use that move. Heck, I never saw a trainer commanding his pokemon to use that move before!

Toothless got himself infatuated after he got struck with the Attract from Tucker's charizard. He is making these lovesick gooey eyes and all desire to battle has obviously left him. _Oh, come on._

"Oi! Toothless! Get a grip! That charizard obviously doesn't love you! She's too old for you damn it!"

I don't think my words reached Toothless's ears. Seeing the opportunity, Tucker's charizard took this time to bury Toothless in a massive Rock Slide after swiftly powering herself up with a Swords Dance. Toothless didn't get back up.

I can't believe one of my strongest pokemon got himself taken out in this manner. God, this is embarrassing. Vance will laugh at me for an entire month. I can already imagine his howling laughter in the confines of my mind.

The crowd seemed stunned at this turn of events as well. The entire stadium had gone eerily silent. Even the commentator is at a loss for words.

Whatever.

"Kratos, Stone Edge!"

Kratos raised a huge, sharp jagged rock that rammed itself into Tucker's charizard the moment he appeared, who immediately destroyed the rock with a Metal Claw. Tucker's charizard flew around as it tried to keep its distance from Kratos and burn him with flames. Kratos destroyed its every attempt by matching its flames with his own Dark Pulse.

"Shock Wave! Nail it!"

Kratos sent waves of electricity at Tucker's charizard, who destroyed the Shock Wave with its flames. We don't really care if the Shock Wave hits. They were just a distraction for Kratos to close the distance.

Kratos knocked into Tucker's charizard with his speed already boosted by Rock Polish and slammed it down into the ground with Smack Down.

"Thunder!"

A large roaring column of electricity fell down from the sky and struck at Tucker's charizard, finally taking it out.

I'm _so_ going to tease Toothless for losing to another charizard because it fell in love with it. Rena is going to love this blackmail material. She will never let him hear the end of it.

Tucker recalled his charizard back into its pokeball before sending out another troublesome foe.

This time, we are facing a metagross.

Both Kratos and metagross have an advantage over the other. Metagross can harm Kratos with its steel type moves while Kratos's dark type attacks are super effective on metagross. The outcome of this fight boils down to who has the greater strength and skill.

"Don't let it use Miracle Eye! Taunt!"

Kratos heeded my words and used Taunt immediately. Kratos has a natural immunity to psychic type moves and I want to keep it that way. With that, some of metagross's most powerful attacks are now not usable for this battle.

Kratos tried to follow up with an Earthquake, but metagross had already levitated into the air with a Magnet Rise before Taunt was used. Metagross then used a Bullet Punch to strike a clean hit onto Kratos. Kratos retaliated with a Payback, only for metagross to mitigate some of the damage by matching him with Meteor Mash.

"Grab it with your sand!"

Kratos moved the sands in his attempt to restrict metagross, who used its psychic powers to fight Kratos for control over the sand. Metagross might not be able to affect Kratos directly with its psychic type moves, but anything else is fair game.

I guess Kratos's sand is useless against this metagross since it can block off the sand with Psychic.

"Dark Pulse!"

"Flash Cannon!"

The two attacks exploded in a massive explosion and the heat of the attack partially melted the centre portion of the arena. Kratos moved in once more and slammed metagross with a Foul Play, sending it flying backwards and crashing through several boulders that were formed from the previous battles.

Kratos momentarily lost his balance when the earth beneath him erupted with an application of metagross's Psychic. Metagross came charging back with an Iron Head, dealing massive amount of damage to Kratos with how fast it was flying towards him.

"Payback!"

"Hammer Arm!"

The two titans clashed and the resulting impact sent shock waves that nearly disrupted the psychic barriers that are protecting us from the effects of their battle. Kratos isn't finished with metagross and released scorching flames from his mouth with Flamethrower, forcing metagross to back off.

An unexpected Grass Knot from metagross nearly tripped Kratos over. Metagross's Meteor Mash found its mark on Kratos, who endured the attack and then enact his revenge with a sickening Crunch, breaking metagross's metallic armour on one of its leg.

The metagross cried out in pain and immediately coated itself with electricity by using an overpowered Thunder Punch. Kratos was forced to let go of the metal behemoth, but immediately used an Assurance and aimed the attack at the injured spot on metagross's leg, dealing even more damage.

"Take it out! Dark Pulse!"

Kratos charged up a massive Dark Pulse and blasted metagross together with everything else in front of him. The entire arena in front of Kratos was torn from the ground and blasted upwards from Kratos's attack. Kratos used this opportunity to use a Dragon Dance and then used his senses to find the metagross, jumping into the air and then landing down onto it, using his body weight to send it crashing into the ground.

Magnet Rise won't save the metagross now.

"Earthquake!"

Kratos gave a victorious roar as Tucker's metagross lay defeated beneath him after that attack. Now my only worry is the last pokemon that Tucker has on him, and I am sure that I know what he is going to send out next. Kratos will have a type disadvantage, but he should be able to hold his own, at least for a period of time.

A large milotic was Tucker's last pokemon. The most worrying thing is that this milotic had never lost a single battle in this conference so far.

"Rain Dance and Surf!"

My jaws dropped as Tucker's milotic performed a feat that I had only seen from Juan's kingdra.

A huge wall of water was immediately formed and the size of it even eclipsed Kratos's own size. Kratos was forced to use a Protect to save himself.

This still didn't change the fact that the entire area is now flooded. Kratos is able to swim and his species is capable of learning Surf, a move that he knows as well. However, he is no good in using this move. The best he can do with Surf is to use it to extinguish flames and to swim well enough to not drown.

"Drain the waters! Quick!"

"Scald!"

Kratos raised wall of rocks to defend himself from milotic's attacks as he immediately tried to drain the huge amount of water by opening holes on the ground. However, there's just too much water to drain and we don't have enough time.

"Milotic, Water Pulse!"

"Hide in the water, then Hyper Voice!"

I am getting desperate. Tucker is definitely a lot more experienced than me when it comes to pokemon battling and I am willing to bet that he competed his gym circuit on the Elite level given how strong his pokemons are. This is definitely not his first time competing in a conference.

We are outclassed and outmatched.

With water as the medium, Kratos's sound-based attack inflicted a significant amount of damage on Tucker's milotic but it immediately regained its lost health with Recover. Kratos didn't even have time to use a Taunt as milotic washed him away with another massive Surf.

I can't believe it. The regeneration power of this milotic is even greater than Lily's.

Kratos emerged from the waters with a bestial roar and immediately charged the waters with a huge amount of electricity with a Thunder. He knows that he is at a disadvantage and is hopelessly outmatched, but he wants to inflict as much damage as possible before going down.

Kratos's reckless move did some damage to Tucker's milotic although it negated most of the damage with a Mud Sport and surrounded itself with a Safeguard. The milotic used a Hydro Pump this time, which Kratos dispersed with a Dark Pulse before swimming towards milotic with Surf.

"Confuse Ray!"

Kratos destroyed milotic's Confuse Ray with another Dark Pulse and continue his charge. If Kratos can get close to the milotic, we may have a chance to turn the odds back into our favour.

No matter what water attacks milotic threw at Kratos, he blocked off the damage or destroyed it before it got too close. Tucker's milotic tried to use another Surf, but its repeated use was prevented by Kratos's Torment after he defended himself from the first one with a Protect. Kratos tried to use another Taunt, but milotic had wised up and prevented him from doing so by launching various attacks at him repeatedly, not allowing him the time to use that move.

Kratos is now up close with the milotic. We can still do this.

"Thunder Fang!"

"Blizzard."

With that, all hopes were lost as Kratos was frozen in the blink of an eye. He can't even move right now.

"Hydro Pump!"

A huge blast of water from milotic sent Kratos flying into the end of the arena and I recalled him. Kratos had did well enough even when he was placed in a near hopeless situation.

Still, did Tucker and his milotic purposely gave me and Kratos a false sense of security and lured us closer to milotic so that it can use a Blizzard in close proximity? If that is the case, then I had underestimated him.

"Bigblue, it's all up to you now! Whirlpool!"

Bigblue immediately called upon a massive vortex of water that swept the milotic with the speed the whirlpool is rotating. The whirlpool suddenly got frozen in ice, and the milotic broke free and began to unleash blasts of Dragon Pulse on Bigblue.

Bigblue bellowed and raised massive walls of rocks to block milotic's attacks. Waves of Stone Edges burst out from the ground at milotic's position, who used a Splash to spring itself up into the air to dodge the attack.

Never would have thought that Splash actually has some sort of use.

Milotic's temporary departure from the ground gave Bigblue enough time to quickly change the entire area into a swamp. We had fought Wallace's milotic before and Bigblue's swamp only hindered its movements slightly, but we need every advantage we could get right now.

"Blizzard!"

Milotic froze the entire battlefield in a split second, rendering Bigblue's efforts into naught. Bigblue propelled himself forward with a Battering Ram and slammed into milotic, taking this chance to bash it with a Mega Punch.

Milotic began to slither and wrapped herself around Bigblue, who used a Body Slam onto the ground to force milotic off him. Milotic used a Dragon Tail which Bigblue caught and then retaliate with Counter, throwing it into the other end of the arena before going after it with a Waterfall.

Milotic healed itself within seconds with Recover and tried to force Bigblue to sleep with Hypnosis. Bigblue disrupted its attempt with Rock Tomb before breaking the ice around them into gigantic ice boulders with Earthquake. He then threw the huge blocks of ice with Rock Throw, causing milotic to run for cover.

This is a disadvantageous battle for Bigblue. Milotic can heal itself rapidly with Recover while Bigblue can only recover his lost health with Rest. The Rest and Sleep Talk combo is a little risky to use since there's no way to know what moves Bigblue will be going to use with Sleep Talk, especially with this milotic as his opponent. We need to do something unexpected and drastic to even have a chance to bring this milotic down.

My mind drew up a blank. Milotic's proficiency with water type moves is probably miles ahead of Bigblue so we shouldn't engage it in a water fight. Our only advantage, which is Bigblue's swamp, is currently frozen and it will take a lot of effort to break through it. There's no point in trying to bring back the swamp since milotic can freeze it way faster than we can create it. That leaves the rock type moves, but the thick layer of ice on the ground makes it a lot harder for Bigblue to call upon huge amount of rocks from the ground to aid him since they need to break through the layer of ice coated across the arena.

The only way is to get physical, or to get stupidly suicidal.

Maybe both.

"Get close with Battering Ram! Don't let it gain distance!"

Bigblue shot forward like a speeding missile and crashed near where milotic is. He made a grab for the serpentine pokemon, who forced Bigblue to keep his distance with a Brutal Swing of its tail. It then tried to unleash another Blizzard, but Bigblue had anticipated it and defended himself with a Protect. Bigblue used a Return to deal physical damage onto the milotic and succeeded, but milotic blasted him away with a Hydro Pump.

I watched in frustration as milotic healed itself once more with Recover. I have no way of stopping the usage of that move, Bigblue's skillset does not give much room for him to sabotage others.

Bigblue used an Earthquake to crack the layer of ice once again before sending the sharp shards of ice flying towards milotic with an Icy Wind. Milotic defended itself with a Water Pulse but found Bigblue right in front of it the moment its wall of water receded.

Bigblue's Double-Edge met milotic's Aqua Tail and the two pokemons inflict massive amount of damage on each other. Bigblue didn't let up and pressed on with a Mega Punch, but milotic dodged his attack by springing up into the air again with Splash before slamming him into the ground with Dragon Tail. Bigblue is now dangerously low on health and I can see his Torrent ability kicking in. Milotic simply used that short few seconds to use Recover once more and I can see Tucker smiling in excitement at his inevitable win.

Bigblue and I still have one chance left though.

Milotic had landed close to Bigblue and was about to finish him with a Blizzard when I gave my command.

"Endeavour and Superpower!"

Bigblue immediately caught milotic and a powerful punch from him brought milotic's health down to the same level as his. Bigblue immediately followed up with Superpower and crashed milotic past the thick layer of ice on the floor and deep into the ground. A huge cloud of dust rose into the air from the impact as everyone waited to see the outcome.

A huge burst of water slammed into Bigblue and sent him flying into the air. I cursed in my mind when I saw that milotic had defended itself from Bigblue's Superpower with a Protect. Just one more attack can take Bigblue out for good.

"Bigblue, Rest!"

"Don't let him heal up! Scald!"

I gripped onto the handrails anxiously as milotic immediately went in to disrupt Bigblue's attempt to heal up. The only good thing is that by doing so, milotic is forsaking its own chance to heal up as well. For milotic, the best defense right now is a good offense. As long as it is able to keep up the pressure, it can win since Bigblue is so close to fainting right now.

"Bigblue, Surf!"

Bigblue immediately pushed milotic back with a huge wave of Surf, the scale of the attack being magnified thanks to the effect of his Torrent ability. Milotic defended itself by freezing the wave of waters before breaking through it. I let out a sound of frustration when I saw that milotic had healed up with Recover, _again_.

"Brine! Finish the swampert!"

"Bigblue, remember our first gym battle, do-or-die!"

It is really our last desperate attempt to finish off Tucker's milotic. If this doesn't work, then we will have truly lost.

Bigblue used an Endure and survived milotic's assault. However, his health is _really_ dangerously low right now.

"Again! Endeavour!"

I can see Tucker panicking when Bigblue's attack connected onto his milotic. Just one more hit! I need to make sure that the next attack cannot be easily dispersed or defended! I need it to be fast! Water type moves are out of the question, so are Bigblue's ice, rock, and ground type moves. They always take a little too long to use. I need a blast of supercharged energy. Come on, what attacks are there that Bigblue can use that we need right now?!

"Bigblue, Hyper Beam!"

"Milotic, Endure!"

 _No way_. The milotic species are able to learn that move too?!

Every usage of Hyper Beam forced the user to take a rest to recharge, causing them to be temporarily defenceless. Only skilled users of Hyper Beam can continue battling after using that move without rest. Bigblue is not a skilled user of Hyper Beam and I knew it. Using Hyper Beam is more of Snap's and Kratos's forte. I had made the wrong call.

I had made a wrong judgement by commanding Bigblue to use Hyper Beam and it cost us our victory. I can only watch as milotic knocked the now defenceless Bigblue out with an Aqua Tail.

The crowd cheered and celebrated in excitement when the referee announced Tucker as the champion of the 528th Ever Grande Conference. I silently recalled Bigblue back to his pokeball and planted a kiss on the surface as thanks.

"Thank you, Bigblue, everyone. You guys did great. I'm sorry that my error cost us our win."

I whispered these words to Bigblue's pokeball with my eyes closed before opening them again. I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel at least a little bitter with how I lost the match, but all the opponents that I had faced had accepted their defeat at my hands with grace. I have to accept mine too. Tucker had won fair and square.

I still can't believe that he used an Attract to defeat Toothless though.

I made my way down to the frozen arena where Tucker and I shook hands as a show of sportsmanship. The crowd cheered again at the sight and I gave Tucker my congratulations.

"Congratulations, that was a splendid battle."

"Thank you. I had thought that it will be my loss when milotic got hit by that Endeavour." Tucker admitted as his milotic shifted to stay by his side. It had used a Recover to heal itself after the battle was over. "I got lucky."

"You won fair and square. I made the wrong judgement call by commanding Bigblue to use Hyper Beam. You truly deserve to be the winner of this year's conference."

Our conversation was cut short when an official led us away to the side. A bunch of rock and ground type pokemons appeared and began to repair the battlefield. Within minutes, the arena became as good as new, and the prize presentation and closing ceremony began.

The announcer began to announce the standings of this year's conference starting from the Top 16. I saw my previous opponents walking out to stand with me and Tucker as an official directed us to stand at our specific spots based on our standing in the conference. Ajika stood behind me and gave me an encouraging smile, which I returned. His battle for the third place took place yesterday and he had won. He is the second runner-up of the 528th Ever Grande Conference.

After Ajika's name was called and he moved to stand back in his designated spot, the announcer announced my name.

 **"AND IN THE SECOND PLACE, WE HAVE VELDA VERA FROM PETALBURG!"**

The crowd cheered once more as I walked up to receive a medal from _Wallace_ , who is the guest of honour for tonight.

"That was a splendid battle, Velda. You might have lost, but you have improved by leaps and bounds since I last saw you. You did a great job. We are all proud of you."

I accepted Wallace's praise and smiled back at him.

"Thank you, Wallace. Your encouragement means a lot to me."

Wallace then gave me a pokeball.

Oh, right. The top three finishers of the annual Ever Grande Conference will also receive a pokemon from the Hoenn League on top of the many prizes we will receive. These pokemons are bred for battling and they are usually either extremely rare or have the potential to grow extremely strong. The league is also thoughtful enough to give the recipients pokemons that match their type specialty, but I am a Generalist. What kind of pokemon did I just receive?

"I won't spoil the surprise, but I know you will raise it well. Congratulations again, Velda."

An official guided me back to stand at my designated spot in the middle of the arena as I gaze at the pokeball housing the new addition to my team.

"I have a feeling I am getting a cool fire type. The pokeball I received feels a little warm to the touch." Ajika whispered excitedly from where he is standing behind me.

"You definitely will." I replied in amusement without turning back. The camera is focusing on us and it will not look well on us if we just chat without paying any attention to the ceremony. I idly noted that the announcer had said that Tucker was from Pacifidlog when he went up to receive his prize. Huh, I couldn't tell. The locals there usually have tanner skin and Tucker definitely doesn't have tan skin.

The closing ceremony commenced and everyone in the stadium stood up in respect as the flag of the Hoenn League was lowered. The lowering of the flag marks the end of a chapter in my journey. After this, I will be starting another journey with my team.

Competing in the Hoenn gym circuit was fun. I had learnt a lot and met many new people. I met pokemons who ended up becoming indispensable members of my team. There were setbacks, but it was still a memorable and happy journey. It sucks being second place when we were so close to victory, but we can't win them all. We tried our best and we enjoyed ourselves. That is what matters.

Well, it's not like I really care about being the strongest trainer. I have only one dream that I want to fulfil in this second life of mine.

I just want to travel the world.

* * *

 **AN: So before you guys start to stone me to death for making Vel lose, let me explain.**

 **No matter how smart or bright Vel is, she is just a trainer that is only two years into her training career. She is not a genius like Steven, but merely possesses another set of memories from her previous life and thus having a mature mind as a result. The only different thing that sets her out from the rest is that she is an old soul in a young body.**

 **It was also never my intention to let Vel win. In fact, I had never intended for her to make it to the Top 2 initially but I kind of did it as a fanservice. Her team is also a random mishmash of pokemons that are rarely used for higher levels of battling. There's no way she can take on a team of overpowered pokemons under the command of a veteran trainer. Maybe she could after a few years when she has more experience, but not now.**

 **Furthermore, unlike the other participants, Vel simply don't have the same drive as them to win. She just wants to try her best in this conference. Her dream is to travel the world, not to be the strongest. You guys can argue that she can be the strongest while travelling the world at the same time, but I feel that motivation is an equally important factor to consider. Without the motivation to be the strongest, there's no way she can be the strongest and stand at the very top in competitive battling.**

 **Right now, the only thing I am hoping is that this final battle was exciting enough. It is hard to churn out exciting battles repeatedly for chapters after chapter. I am probably not going to do that again. It is a nightmare.**

 **I'm not sure if I had surprised you guys by introducing Tucker at this stage of the story, but I had wanted Vel to face a 'canon' character and I want it to be a Generalist, since I don't think I had written a battle between Generalists just yet. The Hoenn Frontier Brains were the first group of people that came to my mind. I had wanted Vel to face Greta, but her team is more inclined to fighting types. So, I turned my attention to Tucker, whose pokemons were beasts to take down even in the games. I think I made the right choice in choosing Tucker, but that's my personal opinion.**

 **I only checked through this chapter once. I really want to go through this chapter another time to look for more mistakes so that this chapter will be more pleasant to read. I'm sure that there are more mistakes out there in this chapter that I didn't managed to pick out yet. But I have work tomorrow and I am a little tired since it is kind of late at night, and I really want to publish this chapter as soon as possible. I know some of you guys are eagerly waiting for it. I'm not sure when is the next possible day where I have time to even turn on my laptop to edit this chapter if I don't get it published today.**

 **Personally, I can't wait to write what is going to happen after the Ever Grande Arc. I have so many ideas in mind and I cannot wait to get it all out.**

 **I think I have ranted enough and my eyes are closing already. Pardon the spelling/grammar mistakes if you do spot them. I had considered the option of beta readers to help me, but for both personal and practical reasons I decided against it.**

 **This chapter is a milestone, whether it is for Vel, for IJWTTTW, or for me. I really cannot express what I am feeling right now. Words cannot express my heartfelt thanks to all of you, especially those who had stuck by this story and me since I first started writing on FFnet. IJWTTTW is my first story I had ever written in my life. IJWTTTW holds some sort of significance to me since it was the story that let me discover a talent of mine that I didn't know I possess.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy the story thus far.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) ?**


	30. Chapter 30- Joy

There, done.

A photo collage hang on the wall of my bedroom as I inspected the finished product with pride. I had spent one entire day sieving through the large number of photos Mum had taken while she was spectating my match and another day trying to create a photo collage with my own hands. Personally, I think it looks pretty enough.

Pictures of my team in action were displayed in the large photo frame I had bought to hold the numerous pictures that I had painstakingly arranged and then hanged on the wall. In the middle of it is a picture that I had taken with my team at the end of the conference in the arena. It was to commemorate the milestone in our journey. The newest member of our team is in the picture too.

Speaking of her.

"Rena, where's Joy?"

Rena flicked her tail lazily as she used her psychic powers to locate our newest member. She could be hiding anywhere with how timid she is.

 _'With Dolly. Dolly is showing her how to best hide in your wardrobe. I have no idea what they are thinking.'_

I shook my head in fond exasperation as I opened my wardrobe. True to Rena's words, I found Joy, who immediately jumped into my arms as I hugged her to my chest. She is small, even smaller than when Dolly was still a shuppet. By my estimate, she is probably two weeks old at the most, which explains her small size. I have experience in raising baby pokemon since I had raised Toothless, but Joy is a lot more delicate to handle. Unlike baby Toothless, she is extremely timid and will run and hide the moment she sees something that scares her.

I had won myself a cleffa in the Ever Grande Conference. The league was kind enough to give me a Moon Stone too, so that I can use it on Joy when she is finally strong enough to evolve into a clefable.

I had always thought that the pokemon I had received from the league through Wallace would be a pokemon that will grow to be extremely menacing. Look at Vance. He received an elekid, who is now an electivire and an absolute beast to go against. It is a well-known fact that the pokemons given out by the league to the winners of the conference are usually bred for battle. They are bred to be destructive.

Which begs the question on why they would give me a _cleffa_. Tucker had gotten himself a mudkip that the league had gotten from my family's farm, Ajika had received a litwick. I'm not complaining about receiving a cleffa as my prize, but _why_ a cleffa?

Sure, fairy types are rare to begin with since there aren't many pokemons with the fairy typing. Even more so for cleffas and their evolutionary line since they are e _xtremely rare_. They can only be found in a few specific places in the world and even then, they are extremely hard to spot, which makes it very difficult for anyone to capture even one of them.

But what makes them a good battler? Why would the league give me a cleffa as a prize for coming in second in the conference? I had never seen any trainer with a clefairy or a clefable, let alone meeting one that is strong enough to be on the Elite level. It could be that the species is so rare that it is hard to spot a trainer that has them in the first place, but that couldn't be the sole factor, right?

Whatever. I will worry about it later on. For now, I have to feed Joy. Her timid nature makes handling her a lot more difficult than handling baby Toothless.

I walked into the kitchen and retrieved a milk bottle designed for feeding baby pokemons. Dolly is already there waiting for me as she tries to groom Joy into the next resident prankster of the team. I think she will be disappointed. Joy is just not cut out to lead the life of a prankster.

Joy happily sucked on the milk bottle as she drank the contents greedily. She only allows me to feed her. I can understand if she doesn't want Vance around her, but even Dad and Mum had difficulties trying to get Joy to open up to them and they are experienced pokemon handlers.

With the addition of Joy to my team, I will have to temporarily put the continuation of my journey on hold. I need to wait for Joy to grow a little older before I am able to continue my journey. She is just not suited for travelling right now and I won't have the right equipment to help care for such a delicate baby pokemon on the road.

I took a look at the clock hanging on the wall of the house. I should be outside helping my parents with work right now if it wasn't for Joy. We have many employees on the farm to help us, but our family has the tradition of personally doing whatever we can on the farm. We are firm believers that one can only be a capable pokemon handler and breeder only if we experience the process ourselves. Our family hold the creatures known as pokemons in very high regard. We treat them as our equals. Everything regarding them has to be done with the utmost care and diligence. It is this mindset that allows our family farm to grow to be as large as it is over the generations.

I walked past the living room with Joy in my arms and spotted the large family crest painted on the wall in the living room. I am a member of one of the most ancient and noble family the pokemon world has ever seen, so I am not surprised that my family actually has a family crest to represent us. It is a simple five-point star with an opened eye in the middle and each point of the star has a word written next to it. These are the words of our family's motto and values. Dad had explained it to me the moment I had learnt how to read and write in this world.

Care, Diligence, Duty, Honour, and Respect. These are the values that we are to live by if we want to call ourselves a Vera.

Honestly, I still don't really get the Duty part. Duty to whom? To what? And what's with the meaning of the opened eye in the middle? It can't be there just for show, there must be a reason to it. Dad wasn't very forthcoming with it either when I asked him during my childhood years. Either he doesn't know about it, or there's something that he is hiding from me on purpose. I had never pursued this issue either.

Never mind, if he thinks that it is something that I should know, he will tell me. If he didn't, then there must be a good reason to it.

Or maybe I am just overthinking on things that is not even present in the first place.

"Dolly, bring Joy to the rest of the team so that they can help keep an eye on her. It's time for the bigger members to meet her for real. Rena and I will go to help Dad and Mum. Take care of her, ok?"

Dolly acknowledged my request with a cackle and teleported Joy and herself away with a Shadow Sneak. I can't look after Joy and help my parents with work at the same time, so my team has to look after Joy on my behalf when I'm not free to care for her. I had not officially introduced Joy to them since she is a baby and I don't want to risk letting her out of her pokeball for too long back at Ever Grande. Anything can happen when it comes to handling baby pokemon and Joy is a lot harder to raise than baby Toothless. I also don't know enough about the cleffa species. Raising Toothless was easy as Flannery was there to guide me.

I don't have such a luxury with Joy. It is the first time for Dad and Mum as well in raising the cleffa species since they are so rare and hard to get their hands on, even with our family's wealth and connections.

When I returned home with my family after the conference, the first few days were mostly spent in trying to understand Joy's species and how to best care for her. As for the rest of my team, not only will this be the first official meeting between them and Joy, this would be their first time doing something akin to babysitting. I am a little worried, but they should be fine even if Rena isn't there. She is doing a great job when it comes to helping me taking care of Joy.

The team should probably be fine even without Rena's help since Kel is there. She will know what to do when it comes to Joy since Joy had taken a liking to her. I usually bring Rena along with me when I am out helping around in the farm. She is a great help as she can help translate what the pokemons on the farm are trying to tell us. It is a much better option than to play charades with them to try and understand what they need.

"Let's go, Rena. We won't be long."

 _'I still don't think it is a good idea to leave Joy with them, Mistress. Some of them are a bad influence and I like Joy how she is now. Arceus forbid if the brutes on our team mould her into something like them.'_

"It will be fine. You worry too much, Rena."

 _'I still think it is a bad idea, but I guess we can trust them to take care of a newborn. It's not that hard.'_

* * *

 _'HEY HEY! LOOK WHO WE HAVE HERE!'_

Dolly's excited chattering got everyone's attention the moment she entered with a Shadow Sneak. They crowded around their newest member, who had taken to hiding behind Kel the moment she appeared with Dolly.

Joy had only been with them for a few days and she is unfamiliar with most of them. Currently, Joy only recognises the smaller members of the team that is able to fit into Vel's house and by extension, had spent more time with them. She is still a stranger to the bigger members of the team and is only close to Kel and Rena. The only time the bigger members had saw Joy before this was the short moment in Ever Grande when they were taking a team picture after the conference. Vel didn't know enough about her species to risk letting Joy out for long in an unfamiliar environment.

 _'Now that we can take a good look, she's so damn small. I think she can fit in between my teeth and there will still be space left to fill.'_

' _Shut it, Kratos_.' Kel admonished as she tried to soothe Joy's nerves, who is now burying herself in Kel's fur at the scary sight of Kratos who is leering at her from high above. ' _You are scaring her. She is just a baby_.'

 _'She is a fairy, right? I don't think I had seen another fairy other than Holly and her species.'_

' _I wonder if she can learn to fly like me_.' Fuzzy commented as he tried to approach Joy without scaring her. ' _Maybe I can teach her how to use Magnet Rise? Can she learn it?_ '

' _We will have to ask Vel to know_.' Flamel added as he pulled Fuzzy back. Joy is only comfortable with Kel right now. Their presence is making it very uncomfortable for Joy and the baby cleffa doesn't seem to like Fuzzy.

 _'Awww. Why is she so afraid of me? I spent time with her in Vel's house! What did I even do?'_ Fuzzy complained as he flew lazily in circles around the team with Magnet Rise.

' _I don't know. Maybe it is because you are always so loud and it is scaring her?_ ' Kel answered sarcastically as she used her body to shield Joy's vision from the rest of the team. Joy is quivering right now.

 _'Really though, that timidness needs to go. How can she help Vel if she is always so timid?'_

 _'Toothless, not everyone is born without any sense of self-preservation.'_

 _'I don't want to hear that from you, Snap. You wanted to try flying through a blizzard.'_

 _'Hey, it is good training, and Vel said that madness and genius is only separated by a fine line. No pain, no gain. I am just trying to do what she said. Right, Bigblue?'_

 _'That definitely wasn't what Vel meant. You flew into my Blizzard and got yourself frozen into an ice cube. You nearly gave Vel a panic attack.'_

Lily ignored them all as she tried her luck in approaching Joy, who peeked an eye from where she is hiding behind Kel. Lily slowly let one of her tentacles approach Joy as Joy slowly raised one of her stubby arms to touch the tentacle apprehensively. The rest of the team quietened down instantly as they watched what would be the first contact any of the larger members will have with Joy. Just a little bit more…

 _' **ACHOO!** '_

Joy flinched at the sudden loud noise and began to wail uncontrollably. Everyone turned to Kratos, who is now rubbing his snout sheepishly.

 _'What? Can't a King take a sneeze? My nose was itchy.'_

Joy cried even louder and Kel began to fuss over her, but no matter what she did to console or cheer her up, Joy just wouldn't stop crying.

Kel turned to give Kratos a glare.

 _'Your mess, your problem. Fix this.'_

 _'What?! Hey! All I did was to sneeze-'_

 _'And now we have a baby on our hands and we have no idea on how to stop her from crying.'_ Flamel answered dryly. _'You better have a plan, Kratos, because neither Vel nor Rena are here to help you.'_

 _'You mean help us.'_ Bigblue corrected Flamel's words as Dolly nodded in agreement from where she is perching on Bigblue's large head.

 _'Was I this problematic?'_

 _'Actually, no.'_ Bigblue replied as he tried to create small toys made of rocks to cheer Joy up, only to fail spectacularly. ' _You were a lot dumber, so it makes it easier for us to take care of you.'_

 _'Hey!'_

 _'TA, TA-TA! THE AWESOME, HANDSOME, DASHING, STUNNING, FABULOUS FUZZY IS HERE! FEAR NOT! FOR FUZZY-'_

 _'Shut it! You are making the crying even louder! Don't scare her with your loud voice!'_

 _'She… She didn't like my introduction?! Joy don't like my fantastic introduction?! I... I…NOOOOOOOOOO!'_

 _'Fuzzy.'_ Kel gritted out with a harsh stare aimed at the electric rodent _. 'Shut. Up.'_

' _Look! A ball!_ ' Dolly exclaimed enthusiastically as she took a ball made of Bigblue's rocks and threw it playfully at Joy. _'Come on, Joy! Catch!'_

 _'Dolly, the ball is made of rocks. You shouldn't-'_

 ** _THUMP_**

 _'Oh great.'_ Snap groaned as he used one of his front claws and did the best imitation of a facepalm like what Vel does sometimes when words failed to express what she is currently feeling when she witness something stupid.

 _'WAHHHHHHHHHH~~~'_

 _'Dolly, the ball is made of rocks. Joy is a baby. Baby, get it? She doesn't have the strength to even lift the ball up yet!'_

 _'Eh, oooopps. I'm sorry?'_

 _'Don't just stand there! Do something!'_

Kel hissed at her teammates as she licked at the spot which the ball of rock had hit Joy, trying to soothe her pain. The entire team tried various ways to stop Joy from crying, from acting out a play to trying to impress her with what they are capable of to trying to take her for a trip in the sky.

None of it worked. It only made Joy cry even louder.

 _'What are we gonna do?! She just won't stop!'_ Lily said in panic as she waved her tentacles frantically, wanting to help but not knowing how.

 _'If only Rena or Vel were here, they would know what to do. What is Joy crying about anyway?'_ Toothless grumbled as he turned to Joy. _'Hey! You! The little pink thing! Would you just shut up already? Or at least tell us what you are crying about so that we know how to help you?'_

 _' **TOOTHLESS**!'_ The entire group shouted at what he did. Bigblue even shot him a Water Gun to shut him up.

 _'What? It was worth a shot. You guys have any better ideas? Why can't she speak anyway?'_

 _'Which part of baby is it that you don't understand? She is not yet old enough to learn our language. You didn't fully comprehend the art of speaking until about one or two moon cycle old!'_

 _'And what's with calling her the little pink thing? Vel gave her a name, Toothless!'_ Flamel chided from the side.

 _'Step aside, peasants.'_ Kratos interrupted as he easily parted the crowd with his large size _. 'Let the King show you what to do. I swear, you guys are hopeless without my guidance.'_

Everyone threw Kratos a sceptical look. Kratos? Handling a baby? Not in a million years.

Kratos lumbered up to Joy, and it is a weird sight to see the two pokemons who differ so much in size standing so close to each other. Kratos is huge for a tyranitar and Joy is only about the size of one of Kratos's claws.

 _'What's he gonna do?'_ Fuzzy whispered to Dolly as the team watched in quiet anticipation.

 _'No clue.'_ Dolly whispered back. _'But he probably has an idea.'_

 _'It better be good._ ' Flamel said as he watched the scene dubiously. _'I have a feeling that he is going to mess this up even more than it already is.'_

 _'Is it even possible to mess this up even further?'_

 _'It's Kratos we are talking about, Lily.'_ Bigblue said with a shrug.

Kratos stood in front of the crying cleffa and sucked in a deep breath. The entire team unconsciously imitated Kratos's action and sucked in their breath as well at the sight.

 _' **LISTEN UP YOU LOWLY PEASANT! BOW BEFORE THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN! YOUR KING ORDERS YOU TO STOP CRYING THIS INSTANT AND YOU BETTER DAMN WELL OBEY!'**_

Joy stopped crying immediately.

 _'It…worked?'_ Bigblue said in disbelief as he nudged Lily for confirmation. His eyes must be playing tricks on him.

 _'I…think so?'_

Kratos huffed out with pride as he turned to face the rest of the team.

 _'See that? **That** , ladies and gentlemen, is how a King solves a problem. I like this girl already. At least she knows that I am the King and she is just a lowly-'_

 ** _'WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!'_**

Snap came to Joy's rescue and simply blasted Kratos away from Joy with a Hyper Beam as the entire team deflated at the sight. Kratos had put on his scariest looking face with Scary Face and made himself even louder with Hyper Voice. It had scared Joy into silence for a few seconds, but it made the situation even worse when the effect had worn off.

 _'Of course. **Of course** he would mess it up even more than it already is.'_

 _'What were we thinking in trusting him to solve what we couldn't?'_

 _'We weren't thinking, that's what.'_ Dolly complained as she tried to do funny actions to stop Joy from crying, only to stop immediately when Joy cried even louder instead.

Kel immediately went over to comfort Joy as Kratos slowly sat up from where he was being blasted to by the impact of Snap's Hyper Beam. Joy cried even louder the moment she saw Kratos getting back up.

 _'First day with us and she already hates Kratos. That is an achievement.'_ Lily commented as she tried to placate Joy by rocking her gently with her tentacles. The crying died down _a little_. Just _a little_.

 _'Vel is not going to be happy about this.'_

 _'What she doesn't know wouldn't hurt, right?'_ Toothless suggested.

 _'Rena will find out one way or another and she will tell Vel, who will give us a long lecture in return. No thanks to Kratos.'_

The entire group glared at Kratos, who was walking back to where they are and stopped in his tracks the moment he saw the glares casted on him.

 _'You **stay** **there** , Kratos.'_ Flamel emphasised from where he is as he tries to cheer Joy up lighting up sparks of ember. He stopped when he sees that it is not working. _'You blew up your only chance. Don't make our work even harder than it already is.'_

 _'It worked for a few seconds! I'm sure if I had done Scary Face right the effect would have been permanent! Come on, just one more try! I am sure I can get it right this time round!'_

 _'No, Rocky. Just…no._ ' Fuzzy crossed his tiny arms in an 'X' as he hovered in front of the rocky titan. Kratos snapped at Fuzzy with his jaws, who simply swerved himself out of reach.

 _'I was trying to help!'_

The entire team gave him a deadpan look.

 _'Ok, maybe it wasn't the best idea, but if being nice to her didn't stop her from crying, I thought I would try and see if scaring her into submission would work!'_

 _'Sometimes, I really wish I can pry your brain open and see what it is made of.'_ Kel commented as she lay down and let Joy use her as a shield and hide herself in her white fur, trying to make herself invisible to the rest of the team.

It would have made a cute sight if it wasn't for the fact that Joy is wailing her lungs out right now. Vel will skin them alive if she returned and found Joy in this state.

 _'Rocky's brain is probably just full of rocks.'_

 _'We need to do something before Vel comes back, we will all get it from her otherwise. She gave us **one job**.'_ Bigblue said worriedly as he made funny faces to get Joy to stop crying. It didn't work out too.

 _'You know what? I rather be fighting in a war right now, at least that was straightforward. Just blast all your enemies into pieces. Easy.'_ Snap grumbled as he waved his tail in front of Joy. Nope, not working too.

 _'Should I be worried that I am feeling the same as well?'_ Flamel added with a hint of frustration. With the exception of their trainer, no one here is good with baby pokemons except for Kel and Rena. If even Kel is at her wit's end, then none of them could hope to have better ideas.

 _'Nope. You are perfectly entitled to think that way.'_ Lily said as she gave up in using her tentacles as a swing for Joy. Joy wasn't enjoying it.

 _'Ah, screw it. I'm doing things my way. The crying is grating on my ears.'_

 _'Kratos, **NO**.'_

Kratos didn't bother replying as he raised the sands in the area and slowly moved it in front of Joy. The movements of the sand caught Joy's attention and the crying stopped when Kratos slowly manipulated it and built a massive castle of sand right in front of Joy.

 _'She actually stopped crying.'_

 _'Are you seeing what I am seeing? Is this real? This is not a dream, right? Flamel, did you use a Hypnosis on me? Is this all an illusion?'_

 _'Shut up, Fuzzy.'_

Joy began poking at the sandcastle in curiosity and even entered it. Kratos indulged her and made the castle even bigger. Soon, Joy is having fun exploring the castle, allowing the entire team to heave a sigh of relief.

 _'Finally.'_ Dolly said as she melted partially into the shadows in exhaustion.

 _'Never felt so tired in my life. That's it, I'm never having kids.'_

 _'Don't speak so soon, Bigblue.'_

Snap perked up.

 _'I think Vel is coming this way, I can feel the vibrations she is making. She is walking here.'_

Vel appeared about a minute later with Rena by her side.

"Oh, good. Glad to see that you guys are getting along. Did Kratos build that sandcastle? It is a nice idea."

Kratos puffed out his chest with pride at the praise.

 _'Don't look so smug. Wait till we tell her about how you used Scary Face on Joy.'_

Kratos's eyes narrowed at Toothless's words.

 _'At least I stopped her crying. None of you managed that.'_

 _'What is this about Kratos and Scary Face?'_ Rena asked with a questioning look.

Oh crap, Rena is here as well.

 _'Nothing.'_

 _'Absolutely nothing at all. Kratos just used Scary Face to scare off a few taillows that went too close to Joy earlier. Nothing to be worried about. Nothing at all.'_

Rena probably didn't buy their explanation, but she left it as it is. Joy immediately jumped into Vel's arms the moment she spotted her. Vel hugged Joy close to her and patted Joy on the head.

"Well, I was a little worried at first, but at least now I know that you guys are capable of watching her when I am not free to do so. See, Rena? I told you that they can do it."

 _'Crap. Vel is sticking us with more babysitting duties?'_

 _'Is it too late to run and pretend that we never hear anything?'_

 _'Can I hitch a ride on your back when that happens, Flamel?'_

 _'You can fly, Fuzzy.'_

"What are you guys looking so scared for?" Vel asked quizzically when she spotted the expressions on their faces. "You guys did great with Joy. Wait. Why is there a bruise here? Did she fall or something?"

 _'Must be that ball Dolly had thrown earlier.'_

 _'I was only trying to get her to play!'_

Vel continued to check Joy for any other injuries as the entire team save Rena waited for the verdict with bated breath.

"Luckily it seems to be a small bruise. Why does it look like she had been hit by a rock?"

Everyone except for Rena gave a subtle glance at Dolly, who tried to look away and pretend that she didn't notice the stares on her.

 _'You guys aren't telling me something._ ' Rena stated with certainty. _'Just **what** did you guys do with Joy while we were away?'_

 _'For the sake of your mental health as well as ours, it's best if you don't know, Rena.'_ Lily replied as she squirmed uncomfortably at her spot. _'It was a nightmare. It made the conference look easy in comparison.'_

 _'How hard can it be to take care of Joy?! All you have to do is to look after her! Just make sure she doesn't hurt herself! How hard can that be?!'_

 _'Some of us rather fight another war. I myself had decided to not have kids.'_ Bigblue said calmly. _'Even Flamel agrees with the first part.'_

' _I rather try my luck in finding the legendaries and beg them to use their powers to make Joy grow up faster. I cannot imagine dealing with that small pink thing for another moon cycle or two._ ' Snap muttered as his tail swished from side to side.

' _Joy didn't enjoy my performance…'_ Fuzzy whispered to no one in particular as he starts to draw circles on the ground with his paw in a dejected manner. ' _She doesn't like the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy. I spent so much time in practicing that introduction too…The crowd at Ever Grande loved it…So why didn't she…'_

 _'There, there'._ Dolly comforted Fuzzy with a pat on his back.

 _'Tell me that we are not getting anymore babysitting duties, please? I am a King! Not a babysitter! Even being a King is way easier than being a babysitter!'_

Rena's jaws dropped.

 _'Just **what** have you guys done?!'_

* * *

 **AN: A short chapter to present the newest member to Vel's team, Joy, to everyone. Trust me, I had looked through every single suggestion that you guys had posted in the reviews and I had considered some of them as well. In the end, I decided to go with Lezaroth's suggestion to get Vel a clefairy who will then evolve into a clefable later on. The main reason for getting Vel a clefable is because of the fact that clefable are fairy types, a typing that is not yet present on Vel's team. Clefables also have a huge number of different moves that they are able to learn, making them very versatile. The other reason is because I haven't seen a fic that has their mc use a clefairy or clefable. If there is, I haven't seen it. I am still thinking if I should add a few more members to Vel's team and I have a few ideas, but I think I will wait for a while to see what the story will really develop into before making a permanent decision.**

 **For those who guessed that a cleffa would be the next member of Vel's team, well, congratulations.**

 **Joy's personality is an inspiration I had after seeing the many Instagram posts from pokemon fans about sobble from Pokemon Sword and Shield. I thought that it would be interesting to have a pokemon with a similar personality on Vel's team, so I wrote it in.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**


	31. Chapter 31- Prophecy

_Ding Dong_

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 _Ding Dong_

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Ignore it. It will disappear if I just ignore it.

 _Ding Dong_

 _Ding Dong_

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Begone. Begone. Begone. Stop ringing already. Let me sleep.

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 ** _DINGDONGDINGDONGDINGDONG_**

 _GOD DAMN IT who the hell is pressing our doorbell at **freaking** **6am** **in the morning**?!_

I sat up grumpily on my bed and tried to rub away the sleepiness in my eyes. Joy, Rena, and Fuzzy sat up as well and they all gave a yawn in unison. Kel cracked an eye open with an obvious scowl on her face.

I am definitely not a morning ' _morning'_ kind of person, not after I stayed up late last night. My pokemons take after me in this regard. I'm so going to murder whoever thought that disturbing my beauty sleep at 6am in the morning is a good idea.

I trudged out of bed and walked past Vance's bedroom. He had only just returned from work yesterday evening. Feeling curious, I took a peek inside. Vance had buried his head under a pillow to block out the persistent ringing from our doorbell. Dad and Mum had gone on a business trip for a short while to the Kanto region, so it's only the two of us at home now.

From the looks of it, Vance had decided that ignoring the continuous ringing of our doorbell is a better option. Macky rose from my shadows and I petted him absentmindedly.

"Come on, let's see who is rude enough to wake us up at _6am_ in the morning."

My grumbling made Macky laugh as we all moved to the front door, leaving Vance to continue lying on his bed. He must be tired from the ACE missions he just returned from, so I don't mind leaving him alone to continue his futile attempt in trying to get back to sleep. I am still in my sleepwear, i.e. an oversized shirt that I took from Vance complete with a pair of shorts, and my hair is still a little dishevelled. However, I couldn't bring myself to care about my appearance right now.

It's freaking 6am in the morning. The sun hasn't even rose yet.

My grumpy mood is also attributable to the fact that I had slept late last night since I was helping Agatha in writing out the first draft of the portion of the textbook that she left me in charge of. It is the portion that deals with the most basic and general knowledge about ghosts. She is writing out portions of the textbook where she will share the more advanced knowledge about ghosts. I have no doubt that whatever she decides to share will be invaluable to aspiring Ghost Specialists.

Somehow, Agatha had gotten notable Ghost Specialists from various regions to share their own knowledge as well. I know from a fact that she had gotten Morty from Johto and Phoebe from Hoenn in on this textbook idea along with a few others. They are also helping out in their own way.

I have no idea how she managed to convince them.

I opened the front door and spotted a cocky looking stranger. I don't even recognise this dude.

" **What**. Do. You. Need." I gritted out with obvious hostility. "At freaking 6am in the morning? If you are looking to purchase pokemons from our farm it opens for business at 10am. The farm is that way." I pointed to my right where the main entrance of our farm is. It is where visitors and customers enter to do business with our farm, our house just happens to be located right beside it.

"How can you call yourself a pokemon trainer if you can't even wake up early?" The cocky male, who I estimate to be about 15 to 18 years of age, spoke out. "I'm not here to purchase pokemons, I'm here to challenge you to a battle."

"Piss off. I stayed up late last night to write a textbook and I am not in a mood to be entertaining any challenges in the morning."

I moved to slam the door in his face. What a jerk. Who does he think he is? Waking me up at 6am and telling me I am not fit to be a trainer? _Demanding_ a battle at this ungodly hour? I don't even know him!

 ** _DINGDONGDINGDONGDINGDONG_**

 _God. Damn. It._

I opened the door again. The same cocky guy is still there.

"What?"

"Battle me."

My left eye twitched in annoyance and I have half a mind to blow a whistle to summon Kratos from wherever he is on the farm right now to eat this rude trainer. However, Kratos would probably demolish a section of the house at the same time. I usually bring my rowdy team to a faraway section of Petalburg if we want to train or the farm and our house will be damaged otherwise. Sometimes, my team have no idea how destructive they can be.

This idiotic trainer will probably irritate me until I gave in to his demands, but I cannot send out the more destructive members of my team since I don't want the house to be destroyed. That leaves Dolly, Rena, Kel, and Fuzzy as the only ones I am able to use against him. I am also a little too lazy to move and find the bigger members on my team since they are somewhere far out on the farm.

"We won't take long, just a one-on-one battle. I just want to see what the runner-up in the recent conference is made of."

I gave a mental sigh at the words. I have been receiving challenges from random trainers over the past weeks who had come to find me in Petalburg. Most of them are polite enough when they request to challenge me and I usually oblige their request. However, there are times where I will bump into a few annoying and rude trainers.

This guy though, he takes the cake. I have never seen such a snobbish, rude, and self-entitled person in both my lives before.

 _'Mistress, Kel says she doesn't mind teaching this human a lesson.'_

 _'Right. Hold on, let me talk to him.'_

"Fine, but we go over there for a battle." I pointed to a clearing not too far away from my house. "And you better disappear the moment we are done. I want to sleep."

"Tch. What a lazy trainer. How did you even make it to second place?"

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Call. Kratos.

 _'Maybe fire-brain can torch him? I can call him for you, Mistress. I am getting annoyed by this human's behaviour.'_

 _'Let's just indulge him and then go back to sleep.'_

* * *

"That is not a fair battle! I want a rematch!"

"You said a one-on-one. There, you have it. Now get lost before I call the cops and charge you for harassment."

Despite this dude's cocky and rude behaviour, he is a skilled trainer even if he is not at Tucker's level. His magnezone is a pain to battle against. I can't tell his type specialty from his magnezone alone since I had only seen a single pokemon from his team, but assuming that he is not a Generalist, then he would be either a Steel or Electric Specialist.

Truth to be told, magnezone's defensive abilities is too annoying to deal with. It will take a long while, but I believe that Kel can get past its defence and take it down eventually. The problem is that we all want to go back to sleep as soon as possible.

So, we decided to go ahead with Perish Song since it takes only about three minutes for the effect to kick in. It will be a double knockout, but it is the fastest way to bring down that annoying magnezone and its equally annoying trainer. Kel doesn't seem to mind the method used. Like me, she just wants her beauty sleep back.

However, now this annoying pain in the ass who woke us up at 6am is kicking up a fuss because we used Perish Song and is demanding a rematch. He wants to have a clear winner between the two of us.

 _'Mistress, is it possible to kill him without facing any repercussions from human laws? Even Joy is annoyed.'_

 _'Sadly, no.'_

"Urgh, you probably came in second place because of luck. Who the hell uses Perish Song in a single battle? What was I thinking in coming all the way to Petalburg to challenge you? I bet that the stronger pokemons that you used were all loaned to you from someone else. How much money did you pay to borrow them?"

Oh ho, so now it comes to insulting my skills, eh?

 _'Should we call Snap and Toothless here, Mistress? This human is skilled but not that strong. Tucker was a lot stronger.'_

 _'No, I don't want to risk Toothless eating him up. He nearly ate the guy that shook me for thinking that Toothless killed his spiritomb back at Ever Grande.'_

I fed Kel a revive and she regained consciousness. She wasn't injured since the magnezone didn't managed to even graze her with its attacks, but magnezone's defense was too strong for her to break through in a short amount of time. In all honesty, we don't really care about the outcome of this battle, we just want to go back to our beauty sleep as soon as possible. Hence, the Perish Song.

I turned around to leave the guy rambling to himself as my pokemons followed me. Just a few more steps and I will be back home. I will be able to lie on my soft, comfy bed.

My beauty sleep, here I come.

"What a spoiled brat. I bet your family splurges on you for you to get so many rare pokemons. Useless. With that kind of upbringing, no wonder you had to pay to win. What kind of parents will raise their kids this way?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around slowly to face this guy. Insulting me is one thing, but I won't stand for anyone insulting my family.

"Hey, watch it. That's my family that you are insulting right there."

"What? Did I hit the nail on the head? It is not an insult if it is the truth."

 **That's it**. I am not going to stand for a stranger insulting my family for no good reason.

 _'Rena, call them.'_

 _'As you wish, Mistress.'_

A loud roar cut off the guy's insults as Snap and Toothless landed in front of me within seconds after their roars were heard. The ground beside me cracked and Kratos emerged from it, looking extremely savage and ready to battle for me.

I would like to see this guy handling my battle-hungry trio. I have confidence that they can demolish this annoying pest. He is not even that skilled.

"You want a fight?" I sneered at the jerk who dared to insult my family. "We will give you a fight, _boy_. We will slaughter you."

The trio roared a response and took a step forward. I can see the guy taking a step backwards as he reached for his pokeballs.

"Vel."

I turned around and saw Vance walking up to me, still in his sleepwear and Macky floating beside him. Macky must have called Vance over while I wasn't paying attention to him.

"Just a minute, Vance. We won't be long."

"They will destroy the house in the process." Vance retorted as he ruffled my messy bed hair with his big hand. "Let me handle this guy, you go sit by the side."

That wasn't a request. Despite his goofy personality, Vance can be very authoritative if need be. He is not asking me to stand down, he is _telling_ me to stand down.

"Fine." I replied reluctantly. "Toothless, Kratos, Snap. Back off."

My powerhouses obeyed and retreated back to my side with reluctance that rivalled my own. Snap rose a small block of stone for me to sit on by the side. What is Vance planning to do?

"Who are you?" Jerkface asked Vance with his hands still hovering over the pokeballs attached to the belt on his waist.

"Eh, no one of importance." Vance waved the question off flippantly with a hand and a large smile on his face. He could have fooled anyone else, but I can tell that his smile is fake.

I am starting to pity jerkface. Vance is angry.

 _Very angry._

"Since we are already out here, how about an official battle? Six-on-six. I am proposing a challenge with 20,000 pokedollars as the prize money for the victor."

"Twen- **_Twenty Thousand_**?!"

That is a huge sum of money involved for just a single trainer battle. Even the legendary battle between Wallace and Steven didn't hit the amount that Vance is proposing.

"Hey, we are the Veras." Vance answered with a shrug. "Twenty Thousand is small change to us. So, do you want a battle or not? For your information, I only finished third in my own conference many years back, haven't been in the competitive scene for a long time already. I'm feeling a little motivated today."

Damn it, Vance, you are smooth! Classic hook, line, and sinker!

 _'Mistress, did Vance just attempt to lure the irritating human to battle him?'_

 _'Yup. Vance wasn't lying either. A huge sum of proposed prize money to catch jerkface's attention. Telling jerkface that his ranking in his own conference wasn't as high as mine to suggest that he is weaker than me when it comes to pokemon battles. Vance entered ACE not long after his conference, so he hadn't been in any official competitive battles for years since he is always so busy with missions. Vance is luring jerkface to battle him by feeding him with half-truths. He is proposing a deal that jerkface won't refuse.'_

 _'Vance is going to destroy him, Mistress.'_

I nodded in agreement as Joy rested in my arms. She had opened up to the rest of my team merely a week after they first met. I'm glad that they got along well.

Vance slung an arm around jerkface and took out his own pokedex, acting like they are the best of pals.

"Look at _alllll_ the zeros, buddy." Vance said as he positioned the screen of his pokedex in front of jerkface and I can see jerkface giving in to the temptation from the amount of prize money up for grab. "So, what do you say to a battle between the both of us?"

I saw jerkface took a gulp and I gave a mental cheer. He took the bait.

"Deal."

I grinned. The beatdown will be satisfying to watch.

* * *

"One set of maple syrup pancakes and one latte please."

"One steak for me, medium-rare. Also, one cup of espresso."

The waiter repeated our orders for confirmation before sending it to the kitchen. Our drinks arrived within a minute and both Vance and I sipped on our beverage, a blissful expression on our faces.

We are currently in the most expensive restaurant in Petalburg for breakfast and Vance is treating since he earned 20,000 pokedollars from jerkface. Jerkface actually broke into tears as he parted with his money.

Should have took a picture of his crying face.

"That." Vance said as he put down his own cup. "Was the most satisfying battle I had in a long time."

"He deserved it." I said as Joy examined our surroundings curiously. Rena is keeping an eye for her and she has to periodically use her psychic abilities to prevent Joy from wandering too far away from us. Joy had grown out of her timidness a little and is now at the stage where she is curious about everything.

Macky cackled as he materialised beside me. He had singlehandedly destroyed jerkface's entire team without so much as a scratch on him. I know Vance is a strong trainer, but that was one of the few times that I had seen him in an official battle.

Vance was untouchable. Jerkface didn't stand a chance even if he released all six of his pokemons at once to battle against the combined might of Vance and Macky.

I am starting to think that Vance might be already on the same level as the Thirteen Pillars. The aura and pressure he gave off in the battle earlier is a lot like what I had felt from Winona when I faced the members of her main team during my Fortree gym challenge. Some of the current members that made up the Thirteen Pillars were from ACE or is still serving in ACE. Winona, Norman, Wallace, Drake and Steven had all hailed from that organisation.

I won't be surprised if ACE has a few more members in their ranks that wields the same level of power as some of Hoenn's Thirteen Pillars. Come to think of it, Vance _is_ Wallace's second-in-command. Vance's position is not a position that is given out to just any rank-and-file soldier. Wallace himself had praised Vance's abilities when we first met in Lilycove. Even Norman had said the same thing about Vance when I was working in his gym as his gym trainer. Vance had definitely earned his spot in ACE through his own strength.

But just how strong is he?

Vance waved a hand in front of my face, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What got you thinking so hard about?"

"How strong you really are." I replied honestly. "I just realised that I had never seen you fighting at full strength ever since I went to watch your conference so many years ago."

Vance gave a huge smirk and did an exaggerated pose.

"Ah ha, so my little sister is finally starting to appreciate how strong her big brother really is." He wagged an eyebrow in my direction, which earned a roll of my eyes.

"Forget it, I shouldn't have asked."

The two of us continued to banter as the waitress served our meals. It's getting increasingly rare for the two of us to spend time together as siblings since we are all getting busier with our own commitments. I'm glad that our relationship is still as close as ever.

"So how long will you be staying this time?" I asked Vance as I slowly eat the pancakes. This is one of the nicest pancakes I had ever eaten. I am going to savour every mouth of it.

Revenge is sweet. You have my sincere thanks, jerkface. I will never forget this meal that you treated me to.

"I have a week to myself; I plan to stay a few days at home and a few days in Lavaridge. I have boyfriend duties. What about you? When are you planning to travel again?"

"Probably when Joy is old enough to train and is not as dependant on baby food. It will probably take some time since her growth rate is slower than Toothless when he was a baby." I paused for a moment before continuing. "Actually, I might put off travelling for a little while. The first draft of the portion of the textbook that I am helping Agatha with is almost complete. I want to at least finish the first draft before continuing on my journey."

"Awww, my baby sister is getting so knowledgeable! She is publishing her own book!"

I resist the urge to throttle my brother as he cooed over me like what he did when I was in my toddler years. I am already thirteen!

The two of us eventually finished our meals. We need to get back to the farm and help with running it since our parents are not home today.

"You know, beating up that jerk was a nice experience." Vance said with his hands in his pockets as he walked beside me. "I will need more of these experiences when boys start to chase after you and I have to beat them off with Macky."

"I'm only _thirteen_."

"And like Dad said, this is the age where you will start to notice other boys." Vance then leaned down and said in a very serious manner.

"If any boys make you uncomfortable like what that jerk did, tell me or Dad. We will erase them for you."

"These two things are not even the same-"

"Vel, I am serious! No boys, understand?" Vance said as he waved a disapproving finger at me like I am a disobedient puppy. "No boys for you until you are twenty!"

"I thought our agreement was fifteen?"

"I change my mind! Twenty-five!"

"Vance!"

* * *

" _Pssst_. Uncle Ed, are they gone?"

Edwin, an old man who is also a long-time employee of our farm, gave me an amused smile. All of us just call him Uncle Ed out of respect for the friendly old man.

"Yes, Vel. They are gone."

I let out a sigh of relief as I moved out of my hiding spot from behind the counter where our farm deals business with walk-in customers. The main bulk of our farm's revenue comes from shipping and delivering orders for pokemons to large corporations who needs them. Usually, these corporations own businesses that needs the help of many pokemons to ensure the smooth running of their operations. They are also some of our largest customers, but we have to do a very thorough background check on these organisations before doing business with them. We don't want to accidentally sell pokemons to terrorist groups because of our negligence. With the league's approval, the Petalburg LSDF also has a duty to help us in this regard to maintain Hoenn's peace and security.

Vance is helping out with that side of the business today, so I decided to help out with handling any walk-in customers. Our walk-in customers also bring in a sizable portion of revenue for our farm.

"Our little princess sure is popular, eh?" Alvin, a teenager and a part-timer who has been working on our farm for a few years, teased with a smile on his face. The room burst out with laughter at his comment and my face reddened.

"Well, Vel is growing prettier day by day. I still remember seeing her as a little kid running after Vance on the farm." Susan, a female employee and a mother of two, chipped in as she rearranged the items on the shelves. Part of our business also deals with selling merchandises that serves to help people to raise their pokemons in an easier manner.

"Did you see the guy just now? He was asking for Vel's autograph!" Bryan, a middle-aged man and another long-time employee of the farm, laughed when he recalled the sight. Several of the employees joined in as well.

Another unexpected consequence of competing in the Ever Grande Conference is that I had actually accumulated a fanbase. They are actually fans out there that are crazy over me and they flocked to my family's farm to try and catch a glimpse of me. The good thing that came out of it is that business has been booming for our farm for the past few weeks since my fans had all either bought merchandises or pokemons from the farm whenever they visit. The bad thing is that I have to endure dealing with some really crazy fans. One of them even asked for a lock of my hair.

I shivered a little the moment I recalled that incident. That was one creepy fellow.

The sound of bells signalled the entrance of another customer that will walk in soon and I can't help but groan, eliciting more laughter from the employees around me.

"I hate you guys."

"Come on, princess. At least you have fans!"

"I swear, Alvin, if it is another of those crazy ones…"

"Well, Vance had some fans as well when he finished his conference, but the hype died down as quickly as it came since he disappeared into ACE so soon. Don't worry, it will pass." Uncle Ed reassured me as he updated the list of available pokemons that we have on sale today using a tablet.

Two customers walked into the shop and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. I know them.

"Tucker? Ajika?"

"Vel!" Ajika greeted enthusiastically the moment he heard me calling his name. Tucker also responded with the same enthusiasm as they walked over to where I am. Both of them are wearing sports attire. Were they exercising together?

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked happily as I walked over to them with Fuzzy on my shoulders. "You should have called! I would have picked you guys up personally!"

"It was a on-the-spur-of-the-moment kind of thing." Tucker answered. "Ajika was staying with me at Pacifidlog since he wanted to see Hoenn's oceans. I was showing him around the fun parts of Hoenn when we flew by Petalburg, so we decided to drop by and see if you are around."

"Actually, I am returning back to Alola tomorrow. Thought it would be nice to say goodbye before that." Ajika said while rubbing the back of his head with a smile. "And maybe see if your farm has any cool fire types that I can pick up if I feel that it fits into my team."

Uncle Ed passed me a tablet that all employees are given for work purposes. They are used for keeping track of the status of the farm's pokemons while they are working here. I opened the updated list and check to see the fire types on sale today.

"We do have a number of fire types available right now, mainly houndours and growlithes since their breeding season had just passed. There are also a few vulpixs. If you want fire types that are unique to Hoenn, we have numels and torkoals as well." I scrolled further and saw another rare fire type pokemon. "There's also a magby for sale, it is the offspring of my brother's magmortar. My parents had somehow managed to breed it with another pokemon on the farm."

"Does your farm sell evolved pokemons?" Tucker asked curiously.

"We do, but they are a lot more expensive and not many trainers can handle fully evolved pokemons. We only sell them if the trainer in question is at least an advanced trainer. However, we don't have evolved fire types on hand right now that are available for sale. Some big corporation just bought them all."

I can see Ajika salivating at the prospect of adding another fire type to his team, much to Tucker's and my amusement.

"Careful there, Ajika. You are drooling."

Ajika didn't seem to care about his appearance as he asked his next question.

"Can I take a look at the numels and torkoals? And the magby too?"

* * *

Ajika looks like he entered paradise the moment I showed him the fire types we have on sale.

"I… I… I don't know which one to choose!"

"Take your time. It happens to most of our customers." I said as I poured tea for all of us outside the enclosure where we housed the many fire types we have on sale for today. Tucker and I sat on a table nearby as Ajika watched the fire types from outside the enclosure.

"The way he is behaving makes me want to get another pokemon for myself too." Tucker mused. "That reminds me. Do you have any tips to share on how to raise a mudkip? Your swampert was very well raised."

"Mudkips are actually pretty easy to handle." I said as I recalled the times where Bigblue was still small enough to be carried around in my arms. "All you have to do is to hydrate them regularly since they are not as capable as their evolved forms in keeping themselves hydrated with their own powers. They don't have enough control yet. Mind showing me your mudkip?"

Tucker released his mudkip, which was the prize he earned for finishing in the first place in the conference. I knelt down and imitated a clicking noise that Bigblue tends to produce. It instantly got the mudkip's attention.

The mudkip slowly walked over to me and let me pick it up in my arms. I gently stroked the area at the base of its headfin, causing it to melt in contentment in my arms. Bigblue had loved it when he was a mudkip. It seems like this mudkip is a male due to the longer length of its gills at the side of its mouth.

"See the moisture on its skin?" I said as I used a finger to swipe at mudkip's back and show Tucker the slime accumulated on it. "This amount of slime shows that your mudkip is healthy and you have been raising it right. If it gets any drier than this, then it means that you will need to hydrate it."

"Interesting." Tucker said as his mudkip jumped back into his arms. "Finding information on how to raise mudkips was surprisingly hard since they are so rare to begin with. I'm glad that we actually found you today, we weren't sure if you are still at Petalburg when we decided to visit."

"Tucker! Vel! I don't know which one to choose!"

Tucker and I shared a laugh at Ajika's dilemma.

"How about you just take all?" Tucker suggested. "The three of us did win a huge sum of prize money in the conference. It should be enough."

"Most of it was used to cover my expenditure in Hoenn! I only have enough for one pokemon!"

"I can give you a discount." I offered.

"There's no need for it!" Ajika waved his hands frantically. "I don't want to take advantage of your kindness!"

"If you have such a hard time deciding, how about you just close your eyes and randomly pick one?" Tucker said jokingly as he let his mudkip down onto the ground.

Ajika paused and looked lost in his thoughts. He is seriously considering Tucker's suggestion?

"You know what? That sounds like a good idea."

"Whoa, I was just joking!"

* * *

In the end, the pokemon that Ajika had randomly picked out was the magby. Ajika looked giddy with happiness when received the pokeball that houses the fire duckling pokemon.

Ajika was adamant on not having the discount that I proposed, so I had thrown in some merchandise for Ajika that I felt would help him in his endeavour in raising fire types, free of charge, when I concluded the purchase. Ajika wanted to refuse, but my persistence won out in the end. I'm sure Dad and Mum wouldn't mind me doing so.

"Oh, Vel, before we leave, have you heard of Scott?"

I frowned a little at Tucker's question.

"What Scott?"

"I take it that he hasn't approach you yet." Tucker said as Ajika happily went to a far corner to release the magby in a safe area with his alolan marowak by his side. "He was a headhunter that helps the league recruit talented trainers. He had just left the league's services and is planning to start an ambitious project on his own. He approached me about a week ago and according to him, he is looking for skilled Generalists who are also citizens of Hoenn. I recommended you when he asked if I knew any talented Generalists that fit the bill."

That name does sound very familiar.

"He told me that he will be visiting you around this time. For all we know, we may be colleagues soon, Vel. Just so you know, I had accepted Scott's offer."

My mind suddenly clicked in realisation. Don't tell me…

The ringing from the front door of the shopfront told me that another customer had entered the shop. Uncle Ed went to greet the customer.

"Oh, sorry for the disruption, but I am here to find somebody. Is Velda Vera present? There wasn't anyone at her house. My name is Scott."

"Speak of the man and he shall appear." Tucker laughed as he waved the big man over. "Scott! Over here!"

"Tucker!" Scott said with equal excitement upon spotting Tucker. Scott looks the same as how I remembered him from the games I used to play. The same blue Hawaiian looking shirt, the sunglasses, brown curly hair and the rotund belly complete with the pokenav hanging around his neck via a string.

Tucker must have been talking about the future Battle Frontier.

"You must be Velda! I saw your match against Tucker, it was _sooo_ exciting!" Scott said enthusiastically the moment he spotted me. "Nice to meet you! My name is Scott!"

I shook hands with the large man, still a little dazed at the realisation that I am looking at the future owner of the Hoenn's Battle Frontier.

"I was just about to speak to Vel about you. Are you planning to recruit her as well?"

"Of course!"

 _No way_. If what I am guessing turns out to be correct, then there is only one reason why Scott will want to find me.

Scott is recruiting me to be a Frontier Brain?!

* * *

"… and that is the reason why I am finding you, Vel! You are still young and definitely have many areas to improve on, but you have what it takes to be a Frontier Brain!"

My jaws dropped briefly before I closed it again. I must be dreaming.

Me? A Frontier Brain? Then who among the original seven will I be replacing if I do accept?

"Of course, I am not expecting a reply straightaway! Feel free to take some time to consider my offer, although I would appreciate if you can send me a reply by the end of the month and not blab about the Battle Frontier to anyone else beyond your family. It is all top-secret. This is my contact number." Scott pushed his name card to me across the table with a single finger. "I really hope that you can consider my offer, Vel. Talented Generalists such as you and Tucker only comes once in a long while."

"It will be nice to have you as a fellow colleague too." Tucker added from where he is sitting at the side and watching Scott trying to recruit me. Ajika is probably still gushing over his new magby somewhere and trying to not get himself burnt from the angsty fire type.

"Well, as much as I love to stay, I have to be going." Scott said as he stood up. "I know I sound like a broken record, but I really hope you can accept my offer, Vel. I will be waiting for your reply!"

With that, the big man disappeared like the wind. For someone so big, he sure moves fast.

"Take your time to think about it." Tucker said as he placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It _is_ a heavy responsibility to bear once you agree to his proposal."

I nodded mutely. Being a Frontier Brain is more than what it seems.

From what I knew from Scott, he had obtained approval by both the Hoenn League and Government to build the Battle Frontier. The Battle Frontier is being constructed as we speak. Our farm has received a large order for various pokemons a short while back and I only just realised that this big customer that we are serving is Scott himself. I don't know where he got the funds needed for such a huge order, but from my prior knowledge, these pokemons will probably mainly be used for the Battle Factory. This means that Noland had most likely accepted Scott's offer since he is the Factory Head in the games.

But like what I said, there is more than what it seems to be a Frontier Brain.

The agreement between the league and Scott is that the Frontier Brains will serve as the second line of defence in Hoenn's security. To keep things simple, the Frontier Brains are only just below the Thirteen Pillars when it comes to hierarchy of power. We are required to use our powers for Hoenn in times of crisis.

Like a war, for example. To go to war _again_ , it is a daunting thought.

I don't know how Scott found out about Vance, but Scott had admitted that he had considered Vance as an option as well. From our earlier conversation, I know that Scott and Wallace knew each other and Wallace had told him that given Vance's personality, it is very likely that he will want to continue to serve in ACE. I agree with Wallace. Vance is not the type to sit still in one place and wait for challengers to come to him. He is the type to go and find challenges for himself.

Vance being a Frontier Brain is definitely out of the question.

Tucker and Ajika eventually left and I help to close the shop when the working hours are over. Vance and I had a quick dinner. I told him what I had been offered and he is happy that my skills had gained the recognition of a headhunter as well-known as Scott. It seems that Vance had heard of him as well.

Makes me wonder just how extensive Scott's network is.

Still, do I want to be a Frontier Brain?

My dream is to travel the world, but after my travels are done, then what? I don't mind helping to run and eventually take over the family business if Vance decides to stay in ACE, but I know that such a life bores me.

I need to give some thought about what I am going to do in the future.

* * *

It seems my luck with 'canon' characters is on full blast these few days.

I walked into the Petalburg gym and greeted Norman, who simply gestured to a room usually reserved for guests.

"They are already here. Whatever they want to speak to you about seems important."

I gave my thanks to Norman, who accepted it and went back to doing whatever he was doing before I came in. He is a busy man.

I had received a call from Wallace at night on the same day when I had met Scott. That was two days ago. He had requested a meeting with me and we agreed to meet today. Wallace had told me to meet him at the Petalburg gym and that Steven will be here as well.

What is so important that both Hoenn Champions will want to meet me?

I entered the room and spotted the two Champions immediately. They look uncharacteristically grim.

This scene caused the alarm bells in my head to ring. Loudly.

"Something bad happened." I stated the moment I closed the door of the room.

"Something potentially bad might happen. To you." Wallace said with a tired look. "I'm sorry, Vel. I tried, but it seems that it isn't enough."

"Take a seat, Vel." Steven said as he guided me to a chair. "It is a long story."

I really don't like where this is heading.

* * *

"So let me get this right. You are telling me that the President will be forcing me to enlist in the League's forces one way or another?"

"That's the gist of it." Wallace said as he endured the angry tone I am using. "I'm sorry, Vel, but the three-month limit is nearing and we still haven't found the remnants of the magmas and aquas. The President will most likely be making his move on you soon. We want to at least warn you about it before that happens."

"It's not your fault." I apologised with a frustrated sigh. My luck sucks. "Sorry for snapping at you, it's just…"

"We understand. Anyone will be angry at the arrangement, but this is how politics in Hoenn works. The darker side of it, I mean. It is not always like this."

I deflated a little as I held Rena tightly who is sitting on my lap. Her psychic powers had rose in response to my emotions and I had to hold her back from blasting everything in the vicinity with psychic energy.

"So, what are my options?"

Steven glanced at Wallace. Upon seeing Wallace giving a nod, Steven started to explain.

"Technically speaking, the League and the Government are two separate entities that work for a common goal. They don't interfere with each other unless strictly necessary. We were thinking that the best way we can protect you is to have you enlist in the League's forces, a part of the force that the Government has no authority over and where Wallace and I can watch over you."

"The two of you are in ACE. If you want to watch over me, it means that I will have to enlist in ACE as well but there's no way that is possible. The both of you know about my body's condition. I am not suited for any of the three forces that makes up the Hoenn League."

"Actually, we were thinking about letting you enlist into a division of the LSDF that is not under the jurisdiction of the Government." Steven explained. "The workload there is a lot easier to handle since the LSDF deals with local security. The only drawback is that you will have to give up on your dream since there's no way you can travel while serving the LSDF at the same time."

I clenched my fist on the hem of my skirt in frustration.

"I don't get it. Why? _Why_ is he so adamant on having _me_ in the League's forces? I am not the only so-called talented trainer in this region that he is so obsessed in collecting. There is something else bothering him, something that makes him desperate enough to force a sickly preteen to enlist in Hoenn's military."

I looked up to face the two Champions.

"So, what is it? What is it that is making our dear President so desperate?"

Wallace and Steven shared another look. This time, their expression is both grim _and_ serious. I really, _really_ don't like where this is heading, but I have to know.

"Are we telling her?" Steven asked Wallace for confirmation.

"She can keep secrets. She already knows the secrets to our region's legendaries. I trust her."

Steven then turned back to face me and start talking.

"This is going to be a long explanation, so try to be patient. Firstly, how much do you know about psychics?"

"Which aspect of psychics are we discussing here?"

"Like how their powers are categorised."

"Well, there are psychics who are more inclined to speaking telepathically, like my Mum's gardevoir. There are also psychics like Rena who are more naturally inclined to sensing emotions. Then there the other categories that are less common, like your metagross's ability to use their powers to do advanced computation, the same as alakazams. There are many more categories, but I don't think you want me to do an in-depth analysis of psychics right now."

"Then you should also know that there are psychics with the ability to see the future, wholly or partially. This is where your problem started."

"You mean those psychics like the xatu species?"

"Exactly that. Some of us refer to such psychics as visionaries."

"What does visionaries got to do with me?"

Wallace took over this part of the explanation as he presented a question to me.

"The peace across the known regions has been maintained for more than 500 years, Vel. That's more than half a millennium. If you think about it, it is a miracle that we managed to keep the peace for as long as it is. Do you know how that was achieved?"

I shook my head. I had never bothered myself with politics, be it in my previous or current life. Trying to understand them gives me unnecessary headaches.

"We dealt with problems by nipping them in the bud, sometimes we dealt with them even before they were conceived. But how do we know when and where a problem will arise? How did we eradicate the problem even before they grow to be a large enough threat when close to no one know about it? How did we find out about such problems when no one told us about it because nobody knew about its existence?"

"Psychics." I said in dawning horror at the realisation. "The PWL uses psychics to predict when and where a problem will occur. But that…"

"The psychics we used are extremely good at what they do. They were never wrong in their prediction, if you want to know. Not all of us agree with the method used, but we can't deny its effectiveness. Every region has their own visionaries helping out in maintaining their regional peace, the PWL also has its own set of psychics to deal with international issues. However, visionaries are not omnipotent. They cannot predict every single outcome nor can they foresee every possible problem. Team Magma and Team Aqua would not have existed if that was the case. The Lilycove invasion would not have happened otherwise. None of the psychics the Hoenn League uses had predicted the invasion. Even the PWL's psychics didn't see it coming."

"I won't argue about the Lilycove invasion but using psychics to deal with problems that had not yet arise…it's… it's like judging someone for their crimes that they might or might not commit yet!"

"We have a policy on not judging someone for their crimes unless we have solid evidence that they had, or definitely will carry out their evil deeds." Steven reassured me as he rose his hands to calm me down. "The PWL is strict on this and so is Hoenn. Every single criminal we apprehended had either done or were about to commit crimes that are so heinous that it is revolting. If someone ended up on our visonaries' prediction, we will send our men to watch them secretly. We will only arrest them if we found solid evidence. If not, we leave them alone as we watch them from the shadows."

Wallace nodded with an uncharacteristic serious look on his face.

"Sometimes, Vel, prevention is better than cure. The visionaries that aid us are powerful psychics, but even they cannot foresee everything. However, they are still a great help since they have a 100% accuracy to date with the events that they could foresee. It has been that way since Hoenn was founded. The same goes for the PWL and the visionaries used by the other regional leagues."

"Ok." I breathed out as I soothed my headache by rubbing my temple with a knuckle. "I am not going to argue about ethics and morals, it is not my place to do so and I don't want to get involved. But what does these visionary psychics got to do with _me_?"

"That's the problem. Starting from a year ago, visionaries all over the world that were used by the various Leagues started to see a common vision. They predict that the end of the world will befall on us in this generation. No region will be spared. None of the visionaries have enough power to know how, why, what, when, where, or who. All we managed to find out is that it will happen if we don't do something about it. Remember, Vel. _All_ of the visionaries that the various leagues use saw a common vision and their prediction have a 100% accuracy to date. There's a reason for fear."

"Sorry, but come again?" I asked with disbelief. My ears must have heard wrongly.

"You heard correctly, Vel." Steven confirmed what I heard with a nod of his head. "The regional governments are panicking. Fear is festering across the regions behind closed doors. The worst thing is that many officials across the world believe that the most probable reason that caused the prediction is that one of the regions will grow to be so strong that it is able to conquer the other regions through war. It is the most logical and likely explanation short of a gigantic meteorite falling on us like how it wiped out prehistoric pokemons. Some of our Hoenn officials support the war theory too. There are some who argued that the Lilycove invasion was an attempt by foreign governments to weaken Hoenn from the inside, by secretly supporting our local terrorist groups to wage war on us."

"You know." I said with a hint of sarcasm. "All of the crap about the end of the world sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy with the way everyone is reacting to it."

"It could be." Wallace agreed. "But no one knows for sure. The President is worried too. His methods are questionable, but he is definitely loyal to Hoenn. In fact, he is too loyal, to the point that he will do anything to protect our land. Everyone is worried, Vel. Some of the regions had taken the Lilycove invasion to be a sign that the visionaries are correct. Everyone is trying to keep it under wraps, but a world war might really happen at the rate this fear is secretly spreading."

"So let me take a wild guess." I continued the theory by supplementing what I had deduced. "Due to the possibility of a world war happening, our dear President wants to build up Hoenn's military strength to be as strong as possible in the shortest amount of time. That's why he agreed to the idea of the Battle Frontier. It helps to boost our economy while getting skilled trainers to help defend Hoenn. It is also situated near Pacifidlog, the south of Hoenn where any naval forces attempting to invade Hoenn will have to bypass. But with seven people like Tucker holding the fort at that strategic location, it will deter anyone from having funny ideas. Facing a group of seven people who have the potential to grow to be as strong as our Thirteen Pillars individually will deter any invading army, no matter how strong they are. If there are further problems, there is always reinforcements from Dewford as well. The south of Hoenn will be an impregnable fortress."

Wallace gave me a small smile.

"You are sharp, Vel. Way too sharp. I assume Scott had already approached you?"

"He did. I was considering on rejecting his proposal, his dream doesn't match with mine." I replied before continuing with my own theory. "Back to the discussion. I am one of those 'talented trainers' that the President spotted, so he wants to get his hands on me. I am willing to bet that he will be doing the same to other trainers who are from Hoenn as well. If they show promise, he will find a way to recruit them."

"What you said is correct." Steven confirmed. "The only silver lining is that the many visionaries around the world, the same ones who foresaw the end of the world, agreed that there is still a chance for the world to be saved even if they cannot see how. Hopefully they will in time. The chance of the world being saved is slim, but it is there. None of the regions wants to go to war too, so despite the mutual mistrust between the regions, the PWL is still working on trying to find out how to stop the calamity together with the psychics. A war between regions will rouse the legendaries, Vel. No one wants that to happen."

"Rouse the legendaries?" I asked doubtfully. This situation is getting really bizarre.

"Each region has a few legendaries that calls it their home. For Hoenn, the strongest legendaries that call this land their home are groudon, kyogre, and rayquaza. They don't get along with each other all that well if our historical records are accurate, but they will definitely not hesitate to defend our land since it is their home as well, the same goes for our other local legendaries. This also applies to the other regions and their respective legendaries. We know that they exist, you should know this better than anyone else. Can you imagine what would happen if the legendaries really do wake up and do whatever they want in an effort to protect their own lands?"

"It will really be the end of the world." I muttered.

"No doubt about it." Wallace said with resignation. "Everyone is still working on trying to avoid the worst possible outcome. We don't want to force you to do this either and the both of us agree that what our President is trying to do is an act of desperation. He is a brilliant politician and a businessman, but he is not a warrior and definitely not a general who knows how to fight a war. He doesn't understand that we can't save our region from war simply by recruiting more trainers. It takes more than that and there are better ways to go about doing it. However, we may not have a choice. In that case, I want to help you to find the best possible outcome in the worst scenario. That is why we decided to talk to you before the President decides to do it personally, we want to help find a way to keep you away from him since Hoenn owes you for what you did to prevent a calamity from happening during the Lilycove invasion. From an objective point of view, your body's condition does not allow you to serve in any of our forces even if you are willing to. I checked your medical records; your body is just that frail. However, the President doesn't think that way. He will try to grab at the slimmest of hope to protect Hoenn, which leads to your current predicament."

"You are too talented, Vel. You show too much promise." Steven added with an apologetic look. "The President wants to groom you to be the next Hoenn Champion after me with the potential you displayed. Your performance back at the conference had only solidified that idea."

"Sorry to disappoint him, but I will have to say no to that." I replied without hesitation. There's no way I would want that position. Take away the glory that comes with it and you will find that it is a shitty job to have.

"I tried to warn him by telling him that your family won't stand for it and that your family has significant political influence as well. The President doesn't seem to be deterred." Wallace told me after taking a sip from a teacup. "Knowing him, he must be very confident that he can force you to enlist into our forces despite your family background. He had probably found a way to bypass your family's influence to get to you since he said that he could suppress your family politically if he so wishes it. The worst part of it is that I don't think he is lying. He probably could walk the talk. We just don't know how, and we don't want to risk it."

I scowled. I can tolerate him trying to get to me, but trying to harm my family? That is off limits.

"He had also found out about your contribution in helping to take down the main forces of Team Magma and Team Aqua." Wallace said as he poured me a drink. "I don't know how he knew it since I only told a select few that I trust with my life. I even get them to agree to a mind probe with my psychic after I found out about the information breach. None of them had betrayed my trust. Somehow, the President is able to find out some of the league's secrets without us knowing how he did it. He wanted to make your contribution a public knowledge but I managed to talk him out of it. For now."

"So you guys still have no clue how he managed to know things that he shouldn't have any business in knowing?"

"No, we don't. Sorry, Vel. But we really have no idea how he managed it."

Great. The last thing I need is for our very own President taking a heavy interest in me. Just great.

I can somewhat understand the President's desperation and efforts in trying to protect Hoenn. He is only trying to do what he thinks is best even if it is at the expense of others, but that doesn't mean I like the way he does things.

If the President is so confident in suppressing my family's influence, then I might really need to enlist in the League's forces to keep them safe from him. I don't want anything bad to happen to my family. I want to keep them safe.

I scrunched my face in thought. War. A war might possibly break out without anyone the wiser. I had experienced war in Lilycove, it was horrible. If such a thing happened on an international level….

I don't want to imagine a world like that. This world is beautiful. I want it to stay that way.

Of course, in the end there might be nothing to worry about and that the psychics the various regional leagues are so dependent on might actually be wrong for once. But there will always be the nagging fear at the back of everyone's heads. The possibility of a ' _what-if'_.

This is what will lead to distrust and fear between regions. If anything, I am willing to bet that _this_ will bring about the war everyone is so afraid of. There is a high chance for this to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Give me a week." I said after minutes of silence. Steven and Wallace were kind enough to remain quiet as I got myself lost in my thoughts. "I will give you my response in a week."

"We will do our best to find the magmas and aquas remnants within the remainder of the three-month limit as well. We will also search for the best suited place for you given your physical condition, if you enlisting into the League's forces turns out to be an unavoidable outcome. We can at least promise you that." Wallace said in an attempt to reassure me.

"For what it is worth, we are sorry, Vel." Steven apologised on both of their behalf. "We really tried."

"Don't be. At least you guys warned me about the unseen threat. Thank you."

Steven and Wallace took their leave as I opted to stay in the room for a little longer to think about this issue in silence. There must be a way, a way out of this. I am not sacrificing my dream and my family.

I am not so self-entitled to think that I can singlehandedly help prevent a world war simply because this is my second chance at life. There are many more qualified individuals than me out there who are more suited to do the world-saving business. They can go be the hero, I don't need that kind of attention and burden on my shoulders. There must be a way where both the President's and my objectives can be met. A way for me to continue travelling while making sure that the President stays off my case.

I need to offer something in return. Something valuable enough for him to leave me alone. I just need to find what that something is.

 _'Mistress? Are you alright?'_

"Let's go, Rena. We have a problem to solve."

* * *

 **AN: Ok, I know this is irrational, but I have a fear that the direction that IJWTTTW is taking will be a wrong one. However, this is the most interesting twist of events that I had thought up of that will bring Vel from one region to another while not challenging the gym circuit. I think this will help keep the story interesting in the long run. Also, I had always felt kind of weirded out that NONE of the regions bothered to solve the problem of their own terrorist group and left it to twelve or eleven years olds to do it for them. Have they never thought of helping each other out?**

 **On a side note, the visionaries thing is a combined idea I suddenly thought up of after remembering Dr Strange's one in fourteen million quote and after I recalled the movie called 'Minority Report'. I think Minority Report starred Tom Cruise iirc. That movie was interesting.**

 **The only thing I am praying is that hopefully I didn't just screw the story over.**

 **As always, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**


	32. Chapter 32- Conflict

"Vel? It's time for dinner."

"Be there in a minute."

Vance frowned a little as he took in the sights of Vel's bedroom. It is a little better than a dump with the number of books strewn around. Vel likes to maintain her room in a neat and orderly fashion, she doesn't like her bedroom to be untidy.

Something is bothering her.

Their parents had noticed the change in her behaviour as well and they are equally worried. There is something that Vel is not telling them. Something that bothers her so much that she is acting so out of character for the past few days.

There was nothing much to do in ACE currently, so after ensuring that they have at least the minimum number of members needed to be on standby at their HQ, the rest of them were given offs and were allowed their continued rest until it was their turn to be on standby. Vance had swapped his offs with his colleagues after he had heard from his parents about Vel's change in behaviour. He had rushed straight home only to be greeted with this sight.

It is worrying all of them.

"Vel, take a break." Vance said as he gently shut the book that Vel is reading and making notes on a small notebook at the side. He silently noted that the book she was reading is about the world's history and politics.

Since when did Vel gain an interest in politics? And international politics no less?

Vel looked extremely annoyed at the interruption, but she knew better than to argue with him.

Vance led his sister out of her room and he took the chance to subtly glance around.

All of the books that were haphazardly strewn around in her bedroom were either about the world's history, trade, or politics. All of it are somehow related to international affairs, be it past or present. Vel had never shown an interest in these subjects before.

What changed?

* * *

"Dad, you and Mum deal with international trade frequently, right?"

Griff looked up from his plate in surprise. Since when did his baby girl gain an interest in international trade?

"We do. We have to, considering the nature of our family business. Why are you asking?"

"Just what kind of trade is Hoenn participating in? Like the list of items that our region trades with other region."

"Mainly items that deals with pokemon, or pokemons themselves. Why do you ask?"

"So, we don't participate in trading of goods such as agricultural produce? Like rice, meat, and the likes. I checked through the world's history on trade. No such stuffs were mentioned. Close to no trade was conducted between regions for anything that is not related to pokemon."

"Why would we need to trade these goods? All we need for trade is anything pokemon related. It's what the entire world is doing."

"Oh." Vel said with a look that is a mixture of incomprehension and disbelief. However, she didn't press on.

Vance saw their parents sharing a worried look from the corner of his eyes. Vel didn't seem to notice as she got herself lost in thoughts. She barely touched her food and is just stirring her soup absentmindedly with her spoon.

"You need to eat." Vance said as he gently held her hand and pulled her out of whatever she is thinking about. "I don't know what got you so worried, but you need to eat."

Vel just nodded out of habit. She is obviously still in her own world.

Vance sighed.

"Vel-"

"Shhh, Vance. Be quiet. I'm close to figuring it out." Vel said as she frowned and held out a hand to stop him from talking. She looks like she is thinking extremely hard about something.

Vance shared a look with his parents. His Dad just gave a shrug and his Mum just look very worried at Vel's behaviour.

"Vance, you went on a joint mission with Indigo's version of ACE before, right? It is where you caught Kratos and gave it to me. Just what kind of missions do you guys do with them?"

Vance blinked. Why the sudden question?

"Well, it is not anything top-secret, but I still can't divulge too much." Vance scratched his chin in thought as he tries to figure out what he can and cannot reveal. "But the joint mission is nothing more than a formality to keep the truce between Indigo and Hoenn, the mission itself is a joke. It is way easier than the mock missions that I had been on. It was a waste of time."

"So, there isn't like, say, an international task force that helps to keep the peace between regions?"

"No. Each region deals with their own problems. Why would we need an international task force?"

Vel turned to their Dad.

"Not even back in your time when you were in ACE, Dad?"

Griff shook his head. Why is Vel suddenly so interested in international affairs?

"Then what is the PWL for? It's like the PWL is doing nothing!"

"The PWL is merely a way for the individual leaders of each regions to meet each other once in a long while to maintain the truce between regions." Griff explained. "In reality, the organisation is really fragile. All it takes is for a single region to pull out of it and the whole organisation will crumble, Drake told me that when I was still in ACE. The PWL is formed out of formality to prevent inter-regional wars since the occurrence of such an event will bring about irreversible consequences. Unlike what most people believe, there is no real power behind the PWL other than giving out the title of Pokemon Master to individuals and to help the regions set certain rules regarding handling of pokemon that all of them agree with. Even so, the rules tend to change every now and then. It's just that not many knew about it since it wasn't publicised to keep the façade up. The PWL was founded from the mutual fear each region has for each other, so there aren't many things that the various regions will cooperate on in the first place. I'm surprised that the world's international trade progressed as far as it did with how the PWL works."

Vel groaned as she covered her face with her palms.

"I should have realised it. This is the problem. Everyone just deals with their own problems. NO WONDER things happen the way they did. NO ONE asked for help and NO ONE bothered to help. It is a miracle we lasted for more than 500 years."

"Vel? Are you alright?" Hanna asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Mum. I just found the reason to the problems and I think I found the solution too." Vel grumbled as she shoved food into her mouth with vengeance. "Stupid politics and stupid leaders. Made me lose almost a week's worth of sleep over something as stupid as this. The freaking solution is just right there. Freaking dumb, idiotic, waste of space leaders. All they need to do is to TALK and COOPERATE."

The other three members of the Vera family shared a worried look. Vel never cursed out loud like that before. What is going on?

"I'm done." Vel said as she finished her meal in record time. She moved to collect the empty plates, but Vance put a hand on her arm and stopped her.

"Let me do the dishes, you go and catch some rest."

"I'm -"

"No, you are not ok. If you don't want to share what is bothering you, fine, but stop worrying us and go and sleep." Vance pointed to the dark rings around her eyes. "You are starting to have eyebags."

Vel unconsciously raise a hand towards her face. Vance knows that talking about her eyebags will get her attention. Like all girls, Vel is conscious of her looks.

"Just go and catch a break." Griff said as he petted Vel's head in concern. "You need it. And remember, we are always here to help."

Vel blinked owlishly.

"Uh… I'm fine. Really. I just found the solution, that's all."

"Solution to what?" Vance asked with a frown.

"Sorry, but believe it or not, it's some league-related stuff that I really can't tell anyone without permission. Even if it is you." Vel said apologetically.

"You got yourself involved in the league's affairs?" Griff said as his voice rose in disbelief. "Since when?"

"To be more accurate, they found me. I didn't want to have anything to do with it but I didn't have a choice. Thankfully, everything is alright now. Or at least it looks alright now."

"I could care less what the league wants with you, your well-being comes first." Hanna stated firmly as she hugged Vel close to her. "I like to see them try to deal with the Vera family. We _are_ influential."

Vel snorted.

"We are only four people, Mum. We cannot fight against an entire government. But really, it's alright now. I may or may not need to start my journey prematurely though, if my solution proves to have some merit."

"Hanna, just let Vel rest." Griff placated his wife. "We can talk about this another day. If Vel is sure that it is no longer an issue, then it is no longer an issue."

"Yup." Vel said happily as she popped the 'p' sound. "In fact, I may be enjoying this and reaping some benefits for myself at the same time."

Vance looked at Vel warily.

"Why does it sound like you just scammed something out of someone? Or extort something out of someone?"

"Maybe because I am planning to do the very thing you just said?"

"Do we want to know?" Griff asked with an equal amount of apprehension.

"Nope!"

* * *

Vance walked out of the kitchen after he finished washing the dishes. He spotted his mother on the sofa and Vel sleeping with her head on their mother's lap. Vel had conked out the moment she so much as sat on the sofa. Their mother had adjusted Vel's position so that Vel's head is now resting on her lap. Their mother is now lovingly combing through Vel's long hair with her fingers, like what she used to do when Vel was younger, but Vel is a lot bigger now.

Vel is growing up so fast.

"I have never seen her so tired before, not since the time when she was constantly ridden with sickness."

Hanna nodded in agreement at Griff's words.

"Vel's room is full of books about international affairs. I checked when I called her down for dinner earlier." Vance added. "Be it about trade, history, or politics, each of the books was somehow linked to international affairs."

"She must have gotten herself involved in something big without us knowing."

Vel is still sleeping with a peaceful look on her face. She must be really tired if she fell asleep the moment she sat down.

Vance turned to Rena, who curled up comfortably and is lying on the floor next to the sofa. Fuzzy, Joy, and Kel are also lounging about in the living room. Dolly and Macky are probably somewhere in the house in a shadowy corner.

"Rena, are you allowed to tell us what is bothering her?"

 _'Mistress had forbidden any of us from telling anyone else on what she is doing in any way or form. Sorry, Vance, but my Mistress's orders are absolute.'_

Vance sighed. Psychics and their pact with their trainers. Any orders their trainers give them is an absolute order to them, there's no way to talk them out of this mindset. It is the same with his gallade and metagross. This mentality is usually a good thing, but right now it is not helping them in finding out what is troubling Vel.

"It's fine, we understand."

 _'She was very worried for the three of you, that is all I can say. But like always, I think Mistress found a solution to the problems, if her earlier actions are any indication.'_

"Well, that is good news." Griff commented. "But why was she worried for us? Just what made it a cause for concern for Vel to be worried for us?"

"And it is most likely something related to international affairs." Hanna added.

"Politics. I have a hunch this is about politics." Vance said as he clenched his fist. "I am going to have a talk with Wallace or Steven, maybe both. If anyone knows anything that is so top secret that even I am not allowed to know, it will be them."

"You do that. I will check on my end if there are any international affairs recently that requires attention." Griff said as he sat down beside his wife and daughter.

"Her words earlier got me thinking." Hanna continued as she carefully strokes Vel's sleeping face with a loving hand. "She said that we are only four people and we cannot fight against an entire government. I am taking a wild guess here, but is the government somehow involved as well? Not just the league?"

"If Vel is researching on politics and international affairs that is not related to pokemon, it is possible. The league doesn't really deal with the international crap beyond the stuffs the PWL usually handle, that is more of the government's job." Griff said as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "Our family has not been active in the political scene in decades. If what we suspect is true and those stupid government officials had gotten Vel involved one way or another, then maybe it is time for our family to remind those fools why we Veras are so influential even more than 500 years after Hoenn's founding. I am not letting them involve Vel in their little political games against her wishes. She had suffered enough. All she experienced since young are sufferings after sufferings and none of us can do anything for her. It is a miracle that her body got better shortly after she received Flamel. It was a miracle that she came back from Lilycove alive. She doesn't need the additional stress from their political games."

"Dad." Vance said with traces of awe in his voice. "Have I ever mentioned how cool you are?"

"You just did. Where else do you think you inherit your coolness from?"

"Uh… Mum?"

"…"

"He got you there, Griff."

"I didn't hear anything."

* * *

I only just realised how different this world is from my previous one after I had completely dug through the history of the pokemon world through every means I could. I was a human in my previous world and I am still a human in this current world. The people I interact with in this world are humans too, same as the people I had interacted in my past life.

But both groups of people being humans doesn't mean that they will operate by the same logic or have the same thinking. Both groups are humans, but they are very different when it comes to how they think and approach problems. When I tried to find out the reason behind it, it always boils down to one difference between this world and the previous one.

My previous world didn't have magical creatures known as pokemons roaming around.

The way of life of people here is very different from those of my previous world due to the presence of pokemons. I don't know how to properly explain it, but when I looked at the extent of how much humans here actually know about the world, I realised the humans here have no sense of globalisation despite their technological advancement. It is the best way I can describe it. I only just realised that this world is huge. Like _really_ huge. However, the 'world' that we know of now only consists of seven known regions that probably takes up about a quarter of the planet's size at most using the estimates given by accomplished geologists. Eight if we include Orre. I had always assumed that these eight big landmasses made up the entire planet that we are living on. It seems that I was wrong.

Which means that there are probably many other regions out there that are unknown and undiscovered to the 'world' that I am currently a part of. For all we know, there are many other regions out there and they might have their own version of a PWL. Like us, they may not know of our existence just as we are unaware of theirs.

My own research has shown that it can be extremely hard to travel from one region to another, especially when it comes to finding an unknown one. Planes are hardly used here due to the presence of flying type pokemons. Unlike the animals from my previous world, there are many flying types in this world that can fly _really_ high and unknowingly fly through the air routes set for planes. A collision between a plane and one such wild pokemon would prove to be disastrous for the plane, not the pokemon. The plane would go boom, not the pokemon since pokemons are creatures with supernatural powers. If a pokemon has the ability to fly high above the clouds where planes fly, then it will need more than a simple crash of a plane to take it down. Because of that, It is usually better to travel through the sea using ships since it is much safer although the travelling speed will be much slower. If you got yourself into a shipwreck, there is a higher chance to survive by trying to stay afloat in the ocean and hope that someone picks you up. If the plane you are riding on got destroyed in the air due to you running into feral wild flying types?

The chances of you surviving are probably close to zero.

No one had yet successfully devised a way to make flights a safe and viable travelling option for the public, even with the help from trained pokemons. This also means that the preferred travelling option for many is a journey through the sea and such journeys can take a very _loooooonnnng_ time. I took a week to travel from Petalburg to Dewford and another from there to Slateport via ship and they are considered to be situated near to each other. If that doesn't show how big this world is, I don't know what will.

I can now see why people are hesitant to go beyond the known seven regions. It is just too troublesome to explore unchartered territories, especially with magical monsters lurking around in the middle of the ocean or flying in the vast skies. An accidental sneeze from a wailord can probably produce a huge enough wave to capsize your ship. Accidentally flying too close to a pack of dragonites or charizards can send your plane spiralling from how strong their wingbeats are. There is also no way to predict the flight patterns of wild flying types and avoid them since they tend to have no set migratory route unlike water types. Flying types just fly however they like and wherever they want to; it is a well-known characteristic of their typing.

This also explains why I saw ports and harbours in Lilycove and Slateport but I had never saw a single airport. I know there are a few small ones in Hoenn, but I had never seen them and I had never thought about visiting one.

In short, travelling around in the pokemon world is a hassle, which explains why the level of globalisation here is very limited as compared to my previous world. The level of technological progress just doesn't match up with their rate of globalisation since it is _so_ hard to do so. The planet is just too huge and there are too many wild pokemons hiding in unseen areas in the wild. There are only a few known safe routes that people can travel from region to region through the sea. On top of that, the only people that actively travelled from one region to another are usually trainers or merchants that trade goods that have some relation to pokemon. Civilians rarely ventured out of their own region for their entire lives because they often don't have strong pokemons to help protect them on their travels and the travel distance is a little too long for their liking.

There is also a different way of thinking between the humans of both worlds. In this world, many people hold pokemons in high regard. This resulted in many international trades taking place with anything pokemon related.

There is a big 'however' in this issue, an issue that even geniuses and brilliant minds generations before I got myself reincarnated here had for some unexplainable reason, never realised.

No one seem to realise that we can also trade things that are _not_ related to pokemons.

I should have realised this. Anything that I bought in Hoenn that is not related to pokemon are all made in Hoenn. I had never seen anything that isn't pokemon related that is made anywhere else. In my previous world, cars are mainly made in Japan and Europe. Most electronic products are made in China. Russia and the Middle East exports many oil products. European and Canadian exports are focused on machinery and transportation.

There's almost no such observable trend in the pokemon world.

Every region does everything themselves. From textile and apparels, to food, to electronics, and everything else under the sun not related to pokemon, every region did everything themselves without thinking of importing or exporting products since they _can_ do it themselves. It kind of explains why people in Kanto and Johto uses the pokegear but people in Hoenn prefers using the pokenav when both devices had almost identical functions. The only thing that is different is their appearance. I do have an xtransceiver, a device that is used by Unovans, but that is because Vance had splurged to get one for me after I had offhandedly said that having an xtransceiver is more convenient than a pokenav. It is expensive trying to deliver one of these devices here because no one ever thought about buying one by importing it into Hoenn. Why use the xtransceiver when Devon's Pokenav can do the exact same thing at a much lower cost in Hoenn?

So even if every region is able to sustain themselves when it comes to anything not pokemon related, is this current arrangement efficient?

I doubt it. Every region has their strength and weaknesses due to their unique geography and culture. Have they ever heard about specialisation of labour? Why haven't they thought about trading goods with each other that is not related to pokemon? Can't they see that it can be more efficient that way and everyone can potentially benefit?

In some ways, the technological progression in this world is miles ahead of my previous world despite the tendency for each region to isolate themselves. Imagine if the brightest scientists and engineers from the known regions come together, exchange ideas, and then went on to invent something not related to pokemon. It is not a far stretch to think that we may be living in space five years from now since we are really technologically advanced in certain aspects. Just take a look at the medical technology used in healing pokemons at the pokemon centre. The head wound I suffered in Lilycove healed surprisingly fast too. Look at Hoenn's New Mauville, the city that never sleeps and how they managed to create a utopia where humans and pokemons can coexist in harmony. The exchange of ideas between pokemon scientists from all over the world led to the invention of the technology to revive creatures from fossils _. We can actually revive the dead._ Just look at Lily.

Even the name of the only known international organisation says it all. The **_Pokemon_** _World League_. Anything not related to pokemon is shoved aside. Your region is having issues not relating to pokemon? Go solve it yourself. We only get involved if it is pokemon related.

The regions in the PWL needs to realise that they can work with each other _beyond_ the things related to pokemon.

The first step, however, is to convince Wallace and Steven, who will then convince the President on my behalf ( _since I don't want to see him at all_ ) to buy this idea. If all goes well, I can get myself a well-paying job while satisfying my wanderlust. The President can achieve his agenda in recruiting me and we can help placate the worries that is running amok in every region as I travel the world. It is a win-win situation.

I can start to travel.

I can start to travel the _world_.

* * *

"What? That is your answer?"

"Yep. Why are you looking at me like that? It is the perfect solution! Everyone will be happy and we might be able to thwart the end of the world prophecy!"

Wallace ran a hand through his face tiredly as he took some time to think about my suggestion.

"Ok, let me repeat what you just said so that I can ensure that I got it right. First off, you want to be employed by the Hoenn League, the one thing we are trying to get you away from."

"Uh huh."

"Secondly, you want to create an international task force. On the Government's side, you want the President to propose the idea to the other regions to start international trade among other endeavours to promote better relationship between regions. Run that through me again, I don't think I get the full picture."

I dumped a stack of books full of sticky notes and highlighted sentences in front of Wallace and Steven. I also passed them a printed copy of my proposal.

"Take a look at these in your own free time. To keep it simple, each region has their own problems that other regions can help solve. The Indigo is too huge since it is made up of two regions. Furthermore, each of their cities are located way further from each other as compared to between the cities in other regions. It does not help at all that Kanto's cities are usually separated by sections of forests or mountains. This problem is a prevalent problem in Kanto. The only exception is the heart of Kanto, where the land is flatter and easier to travel across. Johto is slightly better since the only city that is located in the mountainous region is Blackthorn. Overall, this creates a huge security issue for Kanto since their individual cities are spaced so far apart, allowing Team Rocket, the main terrorist group on their land, to run amok. The large amount of land available gives them a lot of space to hide and it is just too hard to flush them out since they are everywhere. In Kanto, it is hard to travel from city to city in a short period of time even with Teleport since the distance is just that huge. Even trained psychics have to take several Teleports depending on where their starting and ending point is."

"Ok…" Wallace gave a slow nod of his head and gestured for me to continue.

"Kanto's environment is also not suited for agricultural produce. They are barely supporting themselves when it comes to food and rely too much on Johto to remedy their food problem, but remember what I said earlier? It takes so long to travel from city to city, let alone from one region to another no matter it is through the sea from Cianwood or Olivine to Cinnabar or Vermillion, or even through the land route by passing through the Tohjo falls. The same goes for any trade products from Kanto to Johto."

"So? That's their problem, not ours."

" _This_ is the problem, Wallace. If even _you_ , our Champion, don't realise it, then no one will. Stop thinking about this as _your_ problem and _my_ problem and start thinking about it as **_our_** problem. It is this selfish mentality that will bring about the end of the world since every region had never thought about helping each other with their problems. We are too self-sufficient for our own good and look what the visionaries are telling us. Look at the reaction from those who know about this stupid prophecy. This prophecy is brought about by our actions and behaviours from the past, present, and future. We cannot change the past, but we still have a chance to change the present and future. It _can_ be changed, if the visionaries are so damn accurate in what they see. Whatever we want to do to stop the prophecy, it needs to start **_now_**. Every single region needs to put aside their ridiculous fear of each other, learn to cooperate, and work **together** to stop this."

Wallace looked like he wanted to argue but he held his tongue. He had said that he will listen to the end of what I am proposing. Seeing that he is keeping quiet, I continued.

"For Hoenn, we always have a problem with a shortage of land. It is why we have towns and cities like Fortree and Pacifidlog where we try to live in the sky and on the sea. It is why we have New Mauville and why our ancestors decided to take the risk and build a settlement on a volcano at Lavaridge. However, due to our tropical climate and since our lands are so fertile, we are capable of producing a very huge amount of agricultural produce at high quality and low cost, be it rice or herbs alongside other things. Remember when I said that Kanto has a food scarcity problem? Can you imagine the profits we can earn if we actually establish a trade agreement with just Kanto regarding agricultural produce _alone_? I am not even talking about trade with the other regions. Just Kanto."

Wallace's eyes widened a little at the realisation and I can see Steven having the ' _Oh I see'_ moment as well.

"It is easier for Hoenn to defend itself from external and internal threats due to how small we are, so our small size isn't all that bad. For Sinnoh, it is located far north so it is a lot colder there. They also have a big problem with getting past the mountain ranges and they have a lot of different climates depending on which city you live in there. They are good at handling climate issues because they were forced to learn how to deal with it to survive. They are also famous for their precious stones and gems, similar to Kanto. However, like Kanto, it is hard for them to traverse between east and west Sinnoh because of their geography and that is why Team Galactic is able to give them the slip the moment they enter Mt Coronet. It is just too hard to find anyone there. However, Kanto's Elite trainers are known for having the best skills among the trainers in the seven regions when it comes to navigation considering how vast their land is. Kanto trainers acquire this skill naturally during their travels in completing their gym circuit. Elite trainers from Pewter are also famous for being able to find almost anything in the mountains since they live so close to Mt Moon and they _have_ to navigate through it to get to Cerulean, which is the only way for them to get to the heart of Kanto. Their different way of life dictates that they _need_ to acquire these skills, skills that trainers from other regions don't possess. Can you imagine how hard a time Team Galatic will have if Kanto decides to send some of their Elite trainers with that specialisation to help Sinnoh in flushing out Team Galatic from their little hidey hole in Mt Coronet? Assuming that they are hiding there."

Seeing that I now have their full and undivided attention, I move on.

"Unova experience the full four seasons unlike Hoenn, where we _may_ sometimes experience the occasional winter since it is always so hot and humid here. Honestly, they don't really have much of a problem in their region except for one in the form of Team Plasma. Team Plasma had somehow created a cult that promotes the release of pokemons from their trainers and the cult is growing. Rapidly too. From the looks of it, I don't think their local authorities have what it takes to completely stop it since it is like trying to get people to stop believing in their religion. Unova needs external help badly if they want to put a stop to Team Plasma from becoming a threat to their internal security since they can't seem to do it on their own."

"And for Kalos?"

"They are the best when it comes to producing luxury goods, something that every region has a demand for. However, they suffer from overpopulation and everything and everyone is crammed together since they have so many people living there. From what I gathered, I don't think they have what it takes yet to solve that issue. They can learn a little from Hoenn in that regard."

"And Alola?"

"I am hard-pressed to call their government a government." I deadpanned. "It is just four islands having an agreement of sorts to be collectively referred to as a region. They also don't have a League to call their own due to the opposition from the more traditional folks. They are also basically letting Team Skull, the biggest underworld organisation in their region, to do whatever they please. If they don't nip this problem in the bud soon, it _will_ grow to be a cancerous one the moment they found a specific goal to strive for."

"And your idea to set up an international task force is to solve this?" Steven questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Part of it. I was thinking if every region is incapable of solving their own domestic issues, will it be better to if we all come together to help each other solve everyone's issues?" I said as I started to pace around in the small room that we are in at the Petalburg gym. "Every region has their own strengths and weaknesses. Like how a Generalist's team has different pokemon types to cover each other weaknesses to maximise the team's strength, we can do the same too. I am sure that if our ACE and Indigo's STAR join forces for real, Team Rocket can be snuffed out. That is just two different Leagues joining forces. Imagine if the other regions join in as well. Each region also has their own difficulty in non-pokemon related issues. We can help Kalos to solve their overpopulation issue given our success here. Kanto can benefit from a trade agreement with other regions if they start to import food from outside and export the huge amount of rare stone and minerals in return that they are known for. These are just some of my suggestions, I will leave the thinking and planning to the real experts. They are better qualified than me."

As expected, Steven perked up at the mention of rare stones. Wallace and I just rolled our eyes and ignored him.

"Of course, there are many things that we can all do together, but the main thing is that it can throw off the regions' attention off the prophecy. Think about it, what is the biggest threat in each region?"

"The various terrorist groups that made their home there." Steven answered without hesitation. "They are the main source of conflict in each region."

"Bingo. And most of them have plans to involve legendaries in their mad schemes one way or another. I am willing to bet that the prophecy that foretold the end of the world will somehow involve one of these groups at the very least. Anything that involves legendaries _cannot_ be good. They have to power to destroy the world. Even a kid knows that."

"You mean…" Steven trailed off as he starts to see where I am getting at.

"We shift the regions' attention from suspecting each other as the instigator to this end of the world crap to these villainous groups. You can't deny that these groups are a very real threat with their ideologies and influence, and it is possible that they can also be the instigator to bring about the end of the world. The various governments aren't the only parties involved when it comes to the entire world. When we are talking about the entire world, we are talking about _everyone_ that stays on this planet. Including the bad guys."

"That feels like shifting the blame to them." Wallace added in an unsure manner.

"You can call it shifting the blame, but if it helps to get each region to finally cooperate with each other for real, then it is what we are going to do. By making these criminal groups a common enemy for the seven regions and convincing the various Governments that they are more likely to bring about wanton death and destruction instead of that happening through an inter-regional war due to the fear that arises from a vague prophecy, the regions will have to unite to deal with them if we want to put a stop to the prophecy fast. No more second guessing each other. There will be more cooperation with each other, every region can start to learn how to trust each other. Once trust is established, war can then be averted. Even if the prophecy about this Armageddon crap still holds after that, at least we now know that an inter-regional war will not be the reason for it. And if all seven regions unite, then we all stand a better chance to fight against the inevitable prophecy. Haven't you guys heard about the saying? United we stand, divided we fall. In hindsight, it is very probable for these terrorists to bring about the end of the world. Team Aqua nearly got their hands on the orbs to control kyogre and groudon. That is only one terrorist group and they nearly succeeded in wiping Hoenn off the face of the map."

"And if we somehow managed to end every single terrorist groups that plague our lands by joining forces…" Wallace stood up excitedly as he slammed a fist into his palm in an 'eureka' moment.

"Then it will be as I had said. For one, the end of the world crap -can I just refer it as EOW? It is a mouthful to say it- will probably not happen, or it will drastically increase the chances of it not happening. Also, the fact that every region will now start to cooperate for real and show some trust in each other is a bonus too. That can be solidified by having trade with other and helping each other meet our own needs, like supplying Kanto with food while they give us some much-needed rare gems, for example. By ensuring that we can all thrive by cooperating with each other, then there will no longer be a need or incentive for war."

"So that's why you want the President to propose international trade with other regions on top of setting up your proposed international task force. We can help solve each other's issues and everyone can profit at the same time. It will be a two-pronged approach."

"Yup." I said happily as I sat down before standing up again. I am a little too excited at seeing my plan put into motion.

"And the international task force that you are proposing will be the one spearheading the cooperation?"

"The world doesn't have an international task force yet. What I have in mind is something akin to having an international police force that helps maintain the peace and order for the PWL, a group where every region sends in some of their Elites to help out. Their duties will be to troubleshoot and help to solve the issues each region face. If need be, they will step in to provide some additional firepower for the region that needs it. I am thinking of having an Elite force within the task force that comprises of several members of each regions' Thirteen Pillars and also some of the best Elite trainers they have to offer. If we need more soldiers, we will draw it from the region's version of ACE if necessary if we need an army when we are doing our duties in the target region. Having even an extra member of a Thirteen Pillar helping out, no matter the region, can significantly turn the tide of any battle. The duties of the international force are **_not_** to defeat the entire criminal organisation by their lonesome. They serve more as reinforcements and do more of troubleshooting then fighting. Each region has enough military strength to wipe out the criminal group that infest their land, they just need some extra help in the 'how'. Each terrorist group aren't that strong on their own, even if we are talking about Team Rocket which is arguably the largest group. The main problem is that they are all so hard to get rid of once and for all."

"If we have some of the other regions' Thirteen Pillars helping us, Team Magma and Team Aqua might have been wiped out a long time ago." Wallace murmured. "This idea has some merit."

"See? I know you can see the beauty of my plan."

"You want to be part of the international force." Steven stated.

"Of course! I can go and travel the world and it can satisfy the President's obsession in recruiting me. It's not like he will let me go even if we protest, if what you guys told me about him is true. If him getting his hands on me is unavoidable, then I might as well get as many benefits as possible out of it. If everything goes according to what I had suggested, everyone is happy. So why not? I have only one condition."

"And that is?" Wallace spoke a little warily, like I am about to extort him of something.

"I want all my travelling expenses to be reimburse. Basically, the League, or the PWL if our international force falls under it in the end, pays for my travels. I get to travel for free to anywhere and everywhere in the world."

"A small price to pay if your solution can help prevent the prophecy from coming true." Wallace agreed. "I will take it up to the President, I think there's a high chance for him to agree. I don't see any drawbacks for this proposal just yet."

"The mistake that every region commit is that you guys tend to take on everything by yourself. Learn how to reach out to others for help. Our ancestors set up the PWL for a reason, use it. The regions might already be free from their own terrorist group if you learn how to share your problems. The burden on everyone individually will lessen. These terrorist groups will be our common enemy, and since everyone now has a common enemy, the regions can now stop suspecting each other. The war theory is basically out of the window now if everyone is sold on this."

"Wallace, I think we should go and meet the President immediately. Vel's proposition is the best I have heard to date."

Wallace nodded his head as he stood up. He wanted to say his farewell, but I just waved him off.

"Just go, I will be waiting for your good news."

"We will try our best. We promise."

* * *

"Vel."

I turned around and saw Vance walking up to me. Both of us are out in the farm helping our parents but they had just left to help out in another section of the farm. Right now, it is just the two of us.

"Yes?"

"I heard about it from Steven and Wallace. About the dilemma you faced and why you were so interested in international politics."

My jaw dropped before I shut them up again.

Ok, maybe I should have foreseen this coming. Vance is one of the best ACE operatives after all. I shouldn't have expected to be able to keep the truth from him.

"Did you tell Dad and Mum?"

The both of us moved to sit in the shade of a tree nearby as we took a break. Flamel trotted up to me to stand by my side.

"Not yet, but you cannot hide it from them forever. I heard about what you proposed to them too. Steven had said that the President will give his answer in a few days' time, but he personally thinks that the President will agree to it." Vance gave a tired sigh before putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Do you _understand_ what you just got yourself into?"

"I do." I stated seriously. "It is the best arrangement for everyone. How much do you know? Do you know why the President is motivated to act in such a manner?"

"The prophecy. I know about it since they told me. Vel, listen to me. Your body-"

Oh god. This is about me being too sickly again. I have heard enough about me being some sickly patient that can barely lift a spoon.

I am ridden with sickness, but I am _not_ weak.

"No. You listen to me." I interrupted Vance as I gently brushed his hands off me. "I know I am frail, but I am not weak. I don't need to be coddled. I know you, Dad, and Mum are overprotective of me and I appreciate it. But you guys need to learn to _let go_. I cannot be under your wings forever and I need to learn how to stand on my own two feet. I will grow up whether you like it or not. I am no longer a child."

"Let you go? Vel, you fall sick at least once every few months when you are at your healthiest! You are a trainer for only two years! That's still too little experience for you to be involved in something like an international task force! Listen to me, I am from ACE. I know how things like that work!"

"And I am still alive." I shot back. "The doctors had predicted that I won't live past fifteen and I am determined to prove them wrong. I won't be alone too. If my idea gets through, members of each region's Thirteen Pillars will be there along with some of their Elite trainers. Not any ordinary Elite trainers, Vance. They will be the best of the best. I don't look like the part, but I am a capable trainer too. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I am the only first-timer at the recent Ever Grande Conference that finished in the top ten, the rest had taken part in at least one conference before that. They are all more experienced than me, but **_I_** finished in second place. **_Me_** , a newbie with a random team of pokemons and about half of them are not even suited for higher levels of competitive battling. Even your salamence have difficulties trying to put Kratos down when it is so much more experienced. So **_don't_** use my inexperience as an excuse. **_Don't_** use my sickness as an excuse to hide me from the world because you think it is safer for me. No one is safe if a war does break out. War does not discriminate. I would know, I have been in one myself and I hated it. I still have nightmares about it sometimes. I hate to be involved in it but what I hate even more is for another one to break out and implicate innocents. I am not letting an inter-regional war happen if I am able to stop it, Vance."

"I am not implying that you are weak, Vel! But-"

"But your actions say otherwise." I countered as my temper rose. "Only Dad had supported my dream when I first mentioned it. You and Mum wanted to lock me in the house. You guys have accepted the fact that I will leave eventually, but it is because the both of you knew that realistically, there is no way to stop me once I put my mind into it. Don't even try to deny it. I will go on my journey to fulfil my dream because it is the _only_ selfish wish I have in this potentially short life of mine. If I do die young, I don't want to look back and realised that my entire life was spent cooped up on a bed in a room. Travelling and seeing the world is the _one_ thing that I truly want to do. What if I told _you_ that you **_have_** to give up your dream on becoming the strongest trainer against your will? Is it so hard to understand? Will you like it if someone told you 'no' even before you tried? All because of something that you have no control over?"

Vance tried to placate me after my outburst, but I slapped his hand away from me. Right now, I am angry. I don't want to expose everyone's inner thoughts, but these unsaid matters had been bubbling and stewing at the back of my mind for many years already. They always think that I am about to fall at a moment's notice. I am not as fragile as a glass doll.

I know my family will never stop worrying about me because they love me, but they need to learn to let go. I need to become more independent. I am no longer a child. Not since I became a trainer.

And if I really cannot live past fifteen like the doctors said, I want to be able to enjoy the short while I have in this world by doing what I love most. I want to make my stay in this world worthwhile because I don't know if I will be lucky enough to have a third chance to reincarnate into another world as beautiful as this.

This is the only selfish wish I have. I just want to travel the world.

"Look, Vel. Steven and Wallace had both told me that you were worried that the President will do something to us. If what you did is to protect us, then don't. We are the _Veras_. With our family's influence, we can protect you. There's no need to do this against your will."

"Open your eyes, Vance!" I screamed out. "We are only four people. _Four_." I hissed as I held out four fingers and waved it at his face. "What can we really do against our region's government if they want us gone, huh? The President has ways to suppress us and he has proved to be able to obtain information that he shouldn't know. I am **_not_** risking you and our parents, even if it turns out to be a bluff."

"It's too dangerous, Vel! What you are planning to do is almost equivalent to what we do in ACE! Fighting criminal groups as large as the magmas and aquas? That is easily an A Rank or even an S Rank mission! Your body won't be able to handle it!"

"Admit it. Even if I am not born with this stupid, sickly body." I gritted out as I gestured to myself. "You will still find an excuse to keep me away from the dangers of the world. Running away won't solve anything, Vance. We need to face the problem since they will come to us eventually. So, assuming I am healthy, what will be your excuse? Enlighten me, Vance Vera."

Vance remained silent as he buried his face in his palms in frustration.

"You are not getting my point, Vel."

"And you are not getting mine. I am not even involved in the fighting, that will be the job for the Thirteen Pillars. I am just taking the support role and the only thing I am going to do is to help identify and think of ways to help solve the problems each region face. I don't want to be a hero since I am not one. I will leave the world-saving business to those who are suited for it. The fact that the job will take me around the world is something that happens to align with my dream and there is a chance to prevent the prophecy from coming true. My involvement in the dangerous elements is almost nil and even if I am involved for some reason, the various Thirteen Pillars is enough firepower to keep our entire group safe. Why can't you just see my point?"

I turned around and stomped off, jumped onto Flamel's back, and gestured for him to gallop off. I don't care where. I just want to be alone right now. I know I look like an ungrateful brat with how I am acting, but my family needs to realise that me getting involved with all the political shenanigans is inevitable with the amount of interest President Lucas has for me. I have no idea if he can really suppress my family and I don't want to imagine the extent of the damage he can do to my family if he can really do it. I don't want to risk it. They are _my family_.

If me getting involved cannot be avoided, I might as well make the best out of it. I found a way to fulfil my dream while satisfying Lucas and even provided a way to possibly avoid the so-called 100%-accuracy-end-of-the-world-prophecy. I might have just helped the world to avoid an inter-regional war if my plan do produce the results I expect it to produce in the long run. I don't want a war to happen. My experience in Lilycove is so bad that I will never wish for such a thing to happen to anyone ever again. If I can help to stop it, I **will**.

My family have been protecting me since the day I was born in this world. I am also a Vera, I am not weak and I don't need to be sheltered. This time, it is my turn to protect my family.

 **MY** way.

* * *

 **AN: I tried to make the cause-and-effect as logical as possible, which is why I took so long to get these two chapters out. I kept thinking that if pokemons are real and they do exist in our world, what will change? For one, I think travelling through air will be a lot more difficult since planes work by flying above the altitude that birds can fly. Also, most birds can't do enough damage to a plane if they collided. The only way is for them to do so is to get sucked into the plane's engine.**

 **But if pokemons were real?**

 **Planes will probably go boom, not pokemon, if the two collided in an accident. There are also pokemons that are shown to be capable to fly and reach very high altitudes, so it is not a stretch to imagine that wild pokemons capable of that feat can severely interrupt a plane's route.**

 **Air travel is arguably the fastest mode of transport in our world. Take that out, will travelling be made easier or harder? How will that impact the world? What about travelling through the sea? What if your ship meets a pack of gyarados in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight? Will your ship survive?**

 **That is the line of thought I took and part of the explanation for why each region tend to keep to themselves. If each region is self-sufficient enough to survive by itself and travelling between regions is such a hassle, why travel?**

 **I also decided to go the cliché route by inserting a prophecy because I need a legitimate reason for all the regions to panic and to explain the façade of peace that Lucas spoke about during his debut in this story. I am surprised that the pokemon world is actually rather peaceful with not much observable conflict other than the various villain teams. There must be a reason for it and I used psychics as a reason. If the world managed to avoid conflicts for 500 years, there must be a reason to it. In my story, almost every region had experienced war before their founding, showing that humans in the story can be warmongers. It is hard to imagine a world without war for 500 years given the nature of humans. I have to give a reason to the way the world works as it had for 500 years in this story.**

 **I hope that this plot twist didn't just destroy this story. I tried to read from an objective point of view many times and see if my logic can convince myself from an objective standpoint, but I don't see much of a problem _yet_. There will be problems that arise from this in the future, simply because not everything is smooth sailing. It is just that I will only be revealing it much, much later.**

 **I personally think that this twist just opened up a lot more possibilities for this story. Vel will also get to meet a lot of influential figures while travelling the world. She can't possibly meet them if she is merely 'a talented trainer', can she? I need to raise her status into something more than just 'a talented trainer' and 'a Vera'. The Thirteen Pillars of every region are busy people and talented trainers are a dime a dozen. Why will _Vel_ be so important that they have to meet _her_ out of the many trainers out there in the world? She is not even the strongest trainer out there.**

 **Let me know if you guys are sold on the logic behind the reason why I wrote these two chapters the way they are. If you guys aren't, well… there's nothing much I can do, can I? *insert shrug here* What's done has been done.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy the story thus far.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**


	33. Chapter 33- New Comrades

"Vel? Can I come in?"

Griff knocked on the door of his daughter's bedroom. There are things that they need to talk about.

The door swung open due to Rena's use of her psychic powers. His daughter is sitting on her bed and her eyes are a little puffy.

Her quarrel with Vance earlier today must have affected her even more than what he had initially thought.

Griff sat down beside his daughter and decided to go straight to the point. Vel always prefer to handle things in a straightforward manner.

"Vance told me everything. It lines up with what I had found out on my side too, I can see why you were so worried."

"Oh."

His words got Vel's brief attention before she returned to staring at nothing. Griff gave a mental sigh before he wrapped his arms around his daughter and pulled her into a hug.

"Did Vance and Mum send you here? To talk me out of it? To let me stay at home because I cannot travel due to my condition?"

Griff shook his head.

"No. I gave Vance a stern talking to. He shouldn't have approached the topic the way he did, that was insensitive of him. We all know how much you hated to be reminded of your sickness. But Vel, you can't blame him. Vance truly cares for you."

"I know." Vel choked out. "But that makes it hurt even more. He just don't understand why it is necessary. He never tried to see things from my point of view and it hurts. I know he wants what is best for me, but he doesn't realise what he thinks is best is not what I need."

Griff patted Vel's back in a comforting manner.

"In all honesty, I never wanted you to get involved in politics. You already have too many on your plate as it is. It is why I never showed you the more complicated dealings our farm has with our clients. I had always thought that Vance will be the one who will succeed the farm so I trained him in politics and the likes, teaching him everything I know. I never got to show you how influential our family is, so you didn't know about the power our family wield. It is my fault as well. If you had known just how influential we are, things might not have progressed in this manner."

"We are only four people, Dad."

"The Elite Four are also four people." Griff answered. "And how influential are they?"

Vel kept quiet. Griff had gotten her stumped and she knew it.

"Vel, we are influential, I cannot stress this enough. Anything that we want to know, all it takes is a single word from us or a snap of our fingers and we will know right away. We can mess with the League by purposely tweaking the prices for anything pokemon related and they will feel the effects instantly. The Government do have some sway over us, but we have a farm full of pokemons that over 90% of the entire region relies on for its military strength. The pokemons on our farm are like a private army in itself. Like the other families that has been here since Hoenn's founding, we are given certain privileges due to the contributions that we had made to Hoenn for generations. I had wanted to make my displeasure to the League known for dragging you into their political games without our knowledge, but since you want to get involved, I decided to let it rest and let them off with a warning. I had met Lucas. He had promised to not let you get involved in anything that you are unwilling to get involved in and to keep you as safe as possible while you are on duty. We had come to an understanding. Well, he had come to understand me. I _am_ very persuasive."

Vel sat up immediately.

"You met the President?! And you **_convinced_** him?!"

"I told you that we are influential, Vel, I just never got to show you how much. That's why you didn't know about the true extent of our family's influence. You got yourself worried over nothing."

Griff allow some time for his words to sink in before continuing.

"I had discussed this with your Mum and Vance. They are very reluctant, but we decided to let you do what you think is best provided this is what you really want to do. You are right, you are no longer a child and we cannot protect you forever. However, there are a few conditions that we want you to accept before we let you go and try to save the world."

"Ok." Vel nodded her head slowly. "I'm listening."

"Firstly, you need more pokemons on your team since your new job is dangerous in nature even if you are not doing the bulk of the dangerous stuffs. I am not talking about any random pokemons. I need you to have pokemons on your team that are capable of protecting you even a war appears out of nowhere. I am referring to pokemons like Kratos, Toothless, and Snap. I also need you to have smaller size pokemons that can not only match them in power, but also able to follow you around even when you enter buildings."

"I already have Rena, Kel-"

"I am not saying that they are incapable or that they are not doing their job." Griff cut Vel off before she misinterpreted what he is trying to say. "It is just that the moment you enter a building, all the stronger members of your team are always in their pokeballs or forced to stay outside since they are so big in size. How can they protect you if they aren't there to do so? I need you to get at least one or two pokemons that can grow to be on the same level as your powerhouses that can follow you around anywhere. Three or four more if you think you can handle it. This arrangement will allow us to have a peace of mind."

"Dad, I really don't think I am able to handle more pokemons on my team." Vel sighed out. "I already have my hands full with my current team and I really don't know if I can give enough attention to all of them if I have more."

"Norman has way more than you and he is doing fine. I only had six pokemons on my team." Griff started to recount his earlier days as he held Vel in his arms. "I was stubborn back then, even more so than Vance is now. I wanted to have the strongest six pokemons and show the world that it is possible to be the strongest trainer with only the minimum of six pokemons. My team were crazy strong, but sometimes you need quantity more than you need quality. Drake had always told me that me being insistent on having only six pokemons will bite me in the ass someday but I didn't listen. He was right, it was a very bitter pill to swallow when I realised how right he was but the realisation came too late. If only I had more pokemons on my team, maybe some of them wouldn't have died since we would have more firepower. The only reason we were destroyed is because we were severely outnumbered, not because we were weak. Their deaths were partly my fault, Vel, because I was stubborn on not having more pokemons on my team even when I knew that ACE missions are dangerous. I had known that I needed more members on my team but I decided otherwise. My pokemons paid the price for my mistakes. I don't want the same thing to happen to you. I don't want you to go through what I did. Can you understand my reasoning here?"

Vel can only nod mutely.

"I myself will find a pokemon that is able to ferry you through the seas. If you want to follow your dream and help to save the world in your own way, then I will need you to have one such pokemon on your team."

"I already have Bigblue."

"Their species can swim, but they either stay in their swamps or they mostly stay near the coastal areas and rarely venture far out into the sea. Their species are not one that can swim for long distances that span across regions. That is why they are unique to Hoenn, because they are unable to travel to another region with their own power. If you do become a part of the international team that you are proposing to set up, then you will have to travel through the seas very often. We don't want to lose you to a shipwreck. If a shipwreck does happen, I want to ensure that you at least have one pokemon that is able to bring you to safety. You need a better suited water type that is built for travelling through the seas. It will take a while since the pokemon I have in mind is a little hard to acquire, but I expect it to arrive within a month or two at the maximum. If all goes well, maybe a week or two."

"…I can accept that."

"If you need help in finding pokemons that I just told you to find, then tell us. We will help. Selecting pokemons to be a part of your team is a sacred process, Vel, I don't want to just shove pokemons to you that you are uncomfortable in handling. However, like I just said, we are always here to help. Lastly…"

Griff gently put his hands on his daughter's shoulders and look at her in the eyes.

"Remember, we are family. If something is troubling you, _tell_ _us_. I don't want a repeat of something like this again, you hear me? If something as big as this happens to you without our knowledge, I want you to tell us immediately. Many things could have been avoided if you have just told us from the get-go. Top-secret stuffs don't mean anything to us Veras, your Mum and I are already involved in many top-secret affairs due to the nature of our family's business, we just never got around to telling you and Vance. You can just share the League's secrets with us since we already knew most of them anyway. Thankfully, you are smart, and you not only found a way to keep even the President at bay, you found a way to potentially save the world from a disaster. But you are also extremely lucky, Vel. A favourable outcome like this might not happen the next time. I want you to tell us if something like that does happen again, ok? Promise me this."

"I'm… I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't want to worry everyone, I…"

"I know. I know." Griff calmed his daughter down as he hugged her close to him again. "Everyone makes mistakes, it is how we grow. Just remember to apologise to your Mum and Vance, alright? What they did may not be totally correct, but you are in the wrong as well with the way you handled things. You also need to apologise to them."

"I will. And Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. You are a cool Dad, you know that?"

Griff gave a smug grin. At least his daughter has better eyes than his son.

"Of course I am cool. Where else do you think you get your coolness from?"

* * *

My proposal was accepted. Wallace and Steven had succeeded.

The President had conveyed my plan to the various world's leaders and they are all agreeable to it. Wallace and the President are now trying to organise a face-to-face meeting with the world's leaders to discuss with them the details of my plan to prevent the prophecy from coming true. They are also going to use the opportunity to hash out the framework for the change that is to come. Steven had told me not to worry too much because my plan is the best plan anyone had come up with to date.

However, he had also told me that it might take a while for the international task force that I had planned in mind to be set up. The Thirteen Pillars of every region are busy people and they all have their own duties. He had told me that it might take months before things can be finalised even if the world's leaders are agreeable with my plan. That is also after factoring in all the logistic and administrative issues that we are able to foresee.

This leaves me with a few months to get the pokemons that Dad had asked me to add into my team and also to train them. Just what pokemon should I get that fits the bill?

I have a range of pokemons to select from the farm and I am planning to select at least another member to join my team from there. Roxanne had informed me that Brawly had a few fighting types available to be given away and had asked me if I am interested. I had replied that I am fine with it as long as firstly, that pokemon isn't a machamp since Toothless will roast any machamps on sight, and secondly, only if I feel that it is able to fit into my team. I will be going to Dewford the day after tomorrow to meet Brawly. Vance had offered a ride with his gallade's Teleport to save time.

On a side note, Vance is retiring from ACE. He will be out of there before the month is up.

This came as a shock to everyone, but Vance had explained that ACE had took up too much of his time and that he has too little time to spend with us and Flannery as a result. Someone has to takeover the family's business and Dad did initially groom Vance for that role. Dad had trained me as well, but I am usually too sick to properly help out during my childhood years and skipped out too many of these training sessions. When my health got better to the point that my family doesn't have to be constantly worried about my health, I had started on my journey. I didn't have as much training as Vance had and I wouldn't have time for any since I will be involved in international affairs soon.

Vance had said that he doesn't mind taking over the family's business. Despite his love for ACE, he had known from the start that it wouldn't be a permanent arrangement when he first joined. He had joined because of passion, but that passion is eating into too much of his free time and personal life. He needs a break from it like what Norman did. He had volunteered to be a part of the reserve force, a force that is made up of ex-ACE operatives who are also volunteers that will be called out of retirement to serve the League in the case of emergencies. It is a force that the League had tapped into during the Magma and Aqua crisis.

Personally, I think my outburst was the final push for Vance to decide to do what he did. I don't know the exact reason, but I have a nagging feeling that I am partly responsible for his actions and I don't know how to react to it.

I feel guilty, even if I don't know what I am feeling guilty for.

Currently, my team and I are touring the farm to see if there is any pokemon out here that we are all agreeable on to add into our team. They are all very excited, much to my surprise. Rena had reprimanded me once again that I shouldn't be worried about not being able to show them enough care and concern with more pokemons joining my team since that is the furthest thing from their minds now. My battle-hungry trio is especially eager since we all know that I will be choosing another member based on their combat abilities. They are volunteering to test out the abilities of whatever pokemon that caught my eye.

I had decided to first add a poison type to my team, considering how good my team is at using the move 'Toxic' and also how Jacky had nearly stopped me in my conference if it wasn't for Kel and Rena. I had called him to ask for any recommendations that he might have and told him the list of poison type pokemons that my farm has on hand right now that I am able to take. He had heavily recommended a species to me during our conversation after taking my body's condition into consideration. It is a species he used that had nearly crushed my entire team.

Our team walked into the area where our farm houses the nidoran species and their parents. This is where I had come to play with the nidorans many times when I was younger. The nidoqueens here had took a liking to me and the nidokings don't see an issue with me coming over. Their species has been here with my family since a few generations back and they are all very welcoming of us.

However, I have no time to train a nidoran from scratch considering that I only have a few months to get it up to par with the rest of my team. I already have my hands full with trying to train a baby pokemon like Joy. I need an evolved pokemon to relieve me of my workload.

We are on a time limit.

The Queen of the nest, a huge nidoqueen, mothered me the moment I entered. We are very familiar with each other since I had been visiting ever since I was young. I had also given Kratos an absolute order to not assert his dominance here. I don't need him to go around challenging every nidoking in this area and make my life even more difficult than it is right now.

I got straight to the point and told the Queen the reason for my visit. The Queen seemed surprised, but she did inform me through Rena that there is a nidoqueen here who is always restless and looks forward to travelling beyond the farm. That got my attention immediately.

And so, here we are, with said nidoqueen staring at us as we stared back at her while the rest of the nest look at us as if they are watching a movie. The Queen seems very amused at this turn of events.

Rena had volunteered to talk to the nidoqueen on my behalf and after a long conversation, she walked back to me to tell me the results.

 _'The caretaker had informed me that she is willing to take this chance to go and see the world. She has the same dream as us, Mistress. Personally, I like her. She can help me in keeping the brutes in line. However, she will only go with us if we can defeat her in battle. She wants proof of our strength.'_

That is doable.

I turned around to face my team.

"So, who wants to-"

Toothless gave a deafening roar and immediately flew to land in between me and the nidoqueen. I can see Rena giving a roll of her eyes. Kratos and Snap look displeased at how Toothless managed to react faster than them, but they didn't do anything else.

Rena erected walls of Reflect and Light Screen as Lily rose the rocks to shield the onlookers from potential harm. The nidokings and nidoqueens all hid their young behind them, only allowing them to take a peek from where they are hiding behind their parents.

The nidoqueen that Toothless is facing shot poison barbs at him as Toothless burned it down with a Flamethrower. The nidoqueen followed up with a Body Slam but Toothless flew up to avoid any physical contact with her, knowing that the nidoqueen might have the Poison Point ability.

I watched silently from a distance away as I assessed the nidoqueen. For an untrained evolved pokemon, this nidoqueen is actually pretty skilled. She is still a little rough around the edges and her movepool is limited, but that is to be expected from an untrained pokemon. That can be rectified the moment me and my team provide her the proper guidance. The evolved form of the nidoran species are known to boast strong offensive and defensive capabilities while being extremely versatile with the range of moves they are able to learn and use. This is the reason why they are popular among Kanto trainers. However, the nidokings are known for their stronger offensive capabilities while nidoqueens possess a better defence than their male counterparts. Other than that, there isn't much of a difference between the different genders when it comes to combat.

This nidoqueen can fulfil the criteria that Dad had me agree with if I want to be a part of the international force.

It wasn't long before Toothless put the nidoqueen down with a Fire Blast. The nidoqueen had put up a nice fight, but she doesn't have the same experience as Toothless had. She will in time, if she truly wants to follow us on our journey.

I took out a bottle of potion and walked up to the fallen nidoqueen, who is now struggling to get up.

"The one that you just faced in battle is Toothless, one of the strongest members on my team. We had faced a nidoking in battle before and he had taken Toothless down. There is a chance that you can grow to be as strong as that nidoking too, if you want to travel with us."

I knelt down and sprayed the potion on the nidoqueen's wounds. I now have her full attention.

"My dream is to travel the world, although we are getting a little sidetracked since we are now officially involved in trying to save the world at the same time as well. For that end, I need stronger pokemons that can potentially grow strong enough to stand above others in battle since we may get ourselves in dangerous situations. I know you have a desire to both travel and to get stronger from what I was told. I can offer you both and I will do my best to try and take care of you as your trainer. This is the same promise that I had given to every member of my team when they joined me."

Toothless gave a grunt of agreement from where he is standing behind me. I took out an empty pokeball and held it in front of the nidoqueen.

"If you are agreeable, then you will be a part of our family. Our family will grow bigger and I am not totally sure if I can really take care of so many pokemons at the same time, but my team had faith that I can do it, so I will try. If you want to try travelling with us, we will be your new family. What do you say?"

The nidoqueen looked at the pokeball before staring back at me. After what seemed like a long while, she gave a nod of approval and poke at the release button with a single claw, allowing the pokeball to suck her in. This is the first pokemon that I had captured through a battle.

Nidoqueen is also the first comrade that I will be recruiting into my team in an effort to help me save the world. There will be more. At the very least, I will be getting myself a fighting type even if I have no idea what Brawly has in mind for me.

I will find out when I visit him.

* * *

 _'So who do you think we will be given away to? I hope that we can all get ourselves a good trainer like Brawly.'_

 _'Brawly had said that he will be introducing us to an Elite level trainer today. However, she will only pick one of us and the rest of us will be given away to others.'_

 _'Oooh, I wonder if that trainer will pick me?'_

Pangoro sat in a silent corner as mienfoo, meditite, and tyrogue are discussing about what is going to happen today in another corner along with other fighting types that are lazing around in the huge room that they are in. They are all excited at the prospect of being able to meet another trainer. Brawly had high praises for this particular trainer and it only serves to raise their spirits more.

Well, not for him.

Brawly had always gave out fighting type pokemons to those who needs it, especially to novice trainers who are starting out on their journey. Pangoro himself had just recently evolved and he was too skilled as a pancham to be given to novice trainers, so he had been rotting here in this gym for Arceus-knows-how-many-moons already.

For some reason, nobody had chosen him to be their companion. Nobody said it, but he knew that it is largely because of the violent temperament of his species. Not just any trainer can handle him, they need to know what they are doing. He was abandoned when he was a pancham and then given to Brawly because his previous trainer does not have what it takes to handle him. He didn't blame his previous trainer; he knew that he was difficult to handle and that they just aren't suited for each other. His previous trainer just isn't ready yet to handle him. At least his previous trainer has the brains and also a sense of responsibility to find someone who knows what they are doing. In the end, his previous trainer found Brawly and handed him off to the gym leader, who will take care of him until a suitable trainer for him comes along. If pangoro had stayed with his previous trainer despite how ill-suited they are for each other, the outcome for the both of them might have ended in a disaster.

Brawly had also admitted that from what he knew about the preference of the Elite trainer that will be visiting today, it is likely that she will want to train a relatively untrained pokemon from scratch. All of her pokemons were trained from scratch and it is unlikely that she will be changing her mind when it comes to how she trains her pokemon.

That also means that he will continue to rot here in this gym. He can already feel the mold growing on him from how long he had been staying here. He is fine with Brawly since he is kind enough to take care of him while he waited for a trainer to take him in, but it is so _boring_ here.

"Oh Steven! You are here as well?"

Pangoro turned his attention to the person that just entered the room. Brawly seems to know him. From the looks of it, this is not the trainer that they are expecting even if he looks like a skilled trainer.

"Haha, yeah. I heard from Vel's brother that they both will be coming to visit today. I have something to give her from both me and the President. She needs all the help that she can get. It is a token of appreciation from me as well."

"I heard her brother is strong."

"He is. We had a big argument and an even bigger fight when he found out how Vel was dragged into the League's affairs. We made up in the end, but he almost took out half of my team before that. The both of us weren't totally serious in our fight, but there's no mistaking that he is a very strong trainer."

"HALF of your team?"

"Yeah, that's how strong he is. He is Wallace's second-in-command in ACE although he is quitting soon. He is almost at the level of the Thirteen Pillars. Give it another year or two and he could be at the level of a gym leader."

Brawly whistled.

"I'm impressed. I thought that Vel is talented, but what you told me about her brother gave me a bigger surprise."

If even Brawly says that he is impressed, then whoever they are talking about must be impressive.

"So, the prophecy that Wallace told us about… is it true?"

"It is. We are all helping to stop it. Every member of the Thirteen Pillars across the regions are helping to stop it. Vel gave us the plan, we just have to implement it and hope that it works. It is the best plan that anyone had thought up so far."

"She had grown so much, eh?"

"She did."

Now that sounded like something that pangoro shouldn't know about if he wants to steer clear of troublesome issues. He will just erase it from his mind and pretend that he never heard anything. Prophecy? Really?

Stupid psychics and their vision. Thank Arceus that he isn't born as a psychic.

The door creaked open and two humans entered. A male and a female, although the female is obviously a lot younger than the male.

"Steven? Is that you?"

"It's me." The blue-haired man confirmed with a nod of his head at the female's question and waved a hello at the male trainer that entered. "Go and pick out your desired fighting type first, I can wait. I am not in a rush for time."

Brawly gave a big smile as he gestured to the large number of fighting types gathered in the room.

"Surprised at what you see?"

The female trainer with a rodent perched on her shoulder gave a nod.

"I wasn't expecting so many. I am a little spoiled for choice."

"By coincidence, most of them here are fairly untrained and new. I know you have a habit of training your pokemons up from scratch. I usually have a few other trained evolved fighting types to give to advanced or Elite trainers but the only one I have today is the pangoro sitting at the far end over there. He has been here for a long while and no one has chosen him yet."

"He is the only evolved pokemon here?"

"Yeah. No one has what it takes yet to get him to listen to them. Their species can get very violent if you don't earn their respect. They are largely physical fighters and excel in close-range combat. Not so much at long-range, but no pangoro worth their salt will get themselves involved in such a battle. They will somehow find a way to turn the long-range battle into a close-range one."

Damn right. He is a pangoro and no damn way will he get himself defeated because he got himself in a long-range combat. He will turn it into a close-range one no matter the method used.

"So, made a decision already?" The male that came in together with the female trainer asked her.

"Yup. Brawly, do you mind if I release my entire team?"

"Sure, go ahead."

The presence of the pokemons that the female trainer called out had grabbed the attention of every single fighting type in the room immediately. Pangoro can't help but give himself a mental slap.

He should know better than to judge someone by their appearance. This female trainer is a lot more skilled than she looks. The pokemons that follow her are strong.

 _'Oooooooh. Dewford! I haven't been here in a looooooong time! Hey, Bigblue, Flamel, remember the time that we were here?'_

 _'Of course we do, Dolly. What did Vel call us out for?'_

 _'Vel had decided on which fighting type she wants to try adding into our team!'_ The rodent squeaked from his trainer's shoulder. _'I still have no idea who she has in mind though.'_

The trainer walked forward into the room as her pokemons parted the crowd for her. A big and bulky rock lizard snapped at any fighting types that got too close and none of them have the courage to stand up to such a powerful creature.

Even pangoro have no confidence that he can take the rock lizard down if it comes down to a fight between the two of them. He can feel it, the gap between him and the rock lizard is just that big right now.

This female trainer had definitely earned her title as an Elite trainer through her own strength.

The female trainer continues to walk forward. Every step she took gave him a little bit of hope, hope that he hadn't felt in a long while since he had given up on waiting for a trainer many moons ago.

She is walking up to him. She is ignoring the rest of the younger fighting types and is walking straight up to _him_.

It is like a dream come true, except that he is not dreaming right now.

"Vel, are you sure you want the pangoro? Not that I am doubting your decision, but their species is hard to handle. He is also a case of abandoned pokemon since his previous trainer was incapable of taming him and passed him off to me. Pokemons like these are usually harder to handle since you have to restore their trust in humans on top of training them." Brawly asked in concern from where he is.

"I have experience in handling pokemon like him." The female trainer named Vel said as she gently tapped her knuckle at the hide of the rock lizard beside her.

 _'Hah! Take that, Rocky! Even Vel said that you were being difficult when you were a larvitar!'_

 _'Shut up, Fuzzy. Don't make me eat you.'_

 _'Watch it, Rocky. I can still run circles around you and you know it. Do you want another beatdown from the awesome Fuzzy?'_

"And if pangoro being an abandoned pokemon is what you are worried about, remember, Dolly was one too. Don't worry, I think I can handle him. Besides, I really don't have the time to train a new pokemon from scratch. Because of that, I am looking for strong evolved pokemon to add into my team. Pangoro here fits the bill." Vel added as a ghost materialised from her shadow.

 _'Yeah, that guy was a total jerk.'_ The ghost said as she nodded her head in agreement at her trainer's words. The ghost then turns to pangoro. _'You were abandoned like me? Don't worry, Vel here takes very good care of us.'_

"Well, I have no complaints if you are so confident. You are strong, Vel. Go on, convince the pangoro to join you. He has been staying at my gym for too long, it is time for him to go out and see the world."

The rock lizard gave him a condescending look.

 _'Har? This guy?'_ The rock lizard then turns to his trainer. _'Vel, **please** reconsider your option. Remember the one we fought at Ever Grande? I knocked him out in a few hits. His kind ain't strong enough to bring a good fight. They are weak.'_

Pangoro's eye twitched. He knows that he definitely isn't as skilled as this rock type, but he isn't _weak_.

"You know I can't understand what you are talking about, Kratos." The female trainer said as she put her hands on her hip and look up at her pokemon who is so much bigger than her _(How did she even command the respect of such a powerful pokemon?)_. "But it seems that you have an issue with him. What is it?"

 _'Of course I have an issue! If even a trained member of their kind cannot even put up a good fight to take me down, why are we adding them into our team if the criteria we are using to look for our new teammates are strong pokemons? You really should consider someone else.'_

That's it. No one insults him like that and get away with it. He may not be the strongest, but he does have his own pride as well.

Pangoro roared and punched the rock lizard with a Bullet Punch, sending him flying to the opposite end of the room from the unexpected blow. He wants a fight? A fight is what he will be getting. He had always preferred to talk with his fists anyway.

A plant-like pokemon had pulled the female trainer away to safety as the rest of her pokemons stood defensively in front of her. The female trainer seems unfazed at this development.

"Let them be, I don't know what Kratos just said, but he probably went too far. Let's see what Kratos and the pangoro will do for now. Rena, protect the onlookers with Reflect and Light Screen. Things will get destructive if Kratos is involved."

The rest of the fighting types in the room had also scattered upon the sudden attack. Brawly just looked upon the scene with a curious look but he didn't take any action. The other two humans in the room don't seem to be bothered by it as well.

 _'Oh ho, so you know how to throw a punch.'_

The rock lizard named Kratos walked out of the smoke with a savage grin. Pangoro merely punched his fists together before dashing in to engage his new opponent in battle.

The lizard caught his punch and slashed at him with a Dragon Claw. Pangoro defended himself with his fists before throwing the lizard away with a Vital Throw. The lizard merely flipped in midair before landing safely back on the ground.

 _'Not too bad, but it is just that, not too bad. You are still not worthy of my time.'_

 _'Kratos, just shut up and battle.'_ A fire horse chided. _'You weren't worthy of our time too back then.'_

A round of laughter rose from the team of pokemons that the lizard is a part of.

 _'Kel, was Kratos that weak?'_

 _'He was, Joy. He didn't even know what Double Team was. You should see his face when he saw Double Team for the first time.'_

 _'How can anyone not know Double Team? Isn't that like a basic move?'_

 _'Exactly.'_

The rock lizard turned back to face his teammates with a scowl on his face.

 _'You stupid lowly peasants, don't make me eat you guys.'_

 _'You can try, I will roast you alive.'_ A fire lizard shot back. _'Or I can drop you with Sky Drop again.'_

Pangoro took this chance and hit the lizard upwards with a Sky Uppercut the moment it was distracted and leapt after his opponent. It is his fault for getting himself distracted.

 _'Hmm…taking any opportunity you see. Heh, I am starting to approve of you already as a fellow dark type.'_

The lizard fought back with a Thunder Punch and the force of it threw pangoro down into the ground. Pangoro had never felt a Thunder Punch on that level before. It felt like he got hit by a combination of Focus Punch and Thunder.

This lizard is so damn strong.

The rock lizard looks like he is about to fire another attack and pangoro braced himself for a world of pain, but a command from its trainer stopped the lizard.

"Kratos, enough."

The lizard gave a lazy yawn as he landed back down onto the floor of the room, shaking it slightly from the impact of its own weight.

 _'Eh, I guess you are alright. That Sky Uppercut actually hurts._ ' The lizard commented as he rubbed his lower jaw with his claws where Pangoro had just punched earlier. _'Maybe you can really give me a much-needed fight in the future when you got yourself trained by Vel. She knows what she is doing when it comes to dark types and I need a fighting type on the team as a sparring partner to keep me in shape.'_

Pangoro tried to stand back up as he panted for breath, only to fail and fall back on his back. What? That's it? One hit is all it took to defeat him? Is he that weak, or is the lizard just that strong?

The rock lizard turned around and lumbered back to his trainer. He stood beside her as he pointed a single claw at pangoro's downed form.

 _'Hey Vel, I changed my mind. Take him in, the fighting type there can actually put up a fight.'_

 _'You uncouth brute, Mistress is our trainer. Don't be rude.'_

 _'At least the fight that guy put up back there was a better fight that you put up when you first joined. You got toyed by Fuzzy.'_

 _'Oooohhhhh. BURN! Anyone got a burn heal?'_

 _'Hey! I'm awesome! Remember the Super Duper Omega Fuzzy Wuzzy Punch?'_

 _'You want a fight, Toothless? Come on! You and me, right now!'_

A bipedal blue reptile jumped up and knocked the fire and rock lizards on their head with her paws that sent them crashing onto the floor.

 _'Quiet, the both of you. Unless you want a dose of my poison?'_

 _'Damn it, Ness. Not the head!'_

 _'Then keep quiet. At least Snap learns quickly unlike you two. The both of you are really stupid.'_

 _'I can't believe Vel got us another Rena. A Rena that isn't a psychic. Gosh, what is this world coming to? Any idea, Kratos?'_

 _'An end. That's what it is coming to. Isn't that what Vel is trying to prevent?'_

Pangoro stared at their interaction in a confused manner as he lay on the floor in exhaustion. Wasn't the rock lizard threatening to eat them up a moment ago? There's no doubt he is the strongest in the team and he is being made fun of by the entire team on top of getting himself manhandled by another reptile?

 _'Ignore them. This happens all the time._ ' A psychic feline walks up to him from where he lay on the ground. A white feline followed as a small pink pokemon jumped from its back and landed on his broad chest. The pink pokemon struggled to climb its way through his furry chest but eventually made its way to stand face-to-face with him by standing on his chin, finally enabling it to look at him at eye level.

 _'Hi! I am Joy!'_

Pangoro stared at the little pink thing. This thing has to be a baby with how small it is. He has no idea on how to handle a baby.

 _'Uh… Hi._ ' Pangoro said lamely. _'I am pangoro_.'

 _'Is that your name or the name for your kind?'_

 _'The latter.'_

 _'Latter? What does that mean?'_

 _'He means the second mentioned, Joy.'_

 _'Oh! A new word!'_

' _Yes, it is for you_.' The white feline said patiently as Joy did a weird little dance on where she is standing on him. Pangoro doesn't even dare to sit upright now, this baby might break if it so much as fall from his body. It is just so _small_.

Pangoro turned his head around, only to be greeted by the emerald green eyes of the female trainer.

 _When had she snuck up to him without him realising it?!_

"You know, that was a good fight that you put up earlier. Kratos is the strongest on the team and you actually made him feel pain with your punches alone. Not everyone can do that."

 _'Pangoro, just join! It will be fun! Vel is nice!'_

Pangoro look back at Joy as she began to pull at his cheek in curiosity. Well, he will like a rematch with the rock lizard someday when he got stronger. Excluding the baby, every single pokemon on the trainer's team _(Her name is Vel, right?)_ looks stronger than him, even the little rodent that just joined Joy in dancing on his chest. If she can make them this strong, what about him if he does join her? How strong can he get under her command?

' _Hey_.' He said in his gruff voice as he turned to the psychic feline. ' _Is there like a… um… what do the humans call it? Application form? To join you guys? You guys do an interview or something?'_

The psychic feline smirked.

 _'Welcome to the team, pangoro. I think we will get along just fine.'_

* * *

I only wanted to get another two more pokemons into my team. I wasn't expecting to get _another_ two more on top of the two I just got.

"So _this_ was how the President found out about things he shouldn't know?"

"Caught us all by surprise too. We weren't expecting him to use a pokemon of all things to poke his nose everywhere."

According to Steven, the President, Steven, and Wallace had a ' _heart-to-heart'_ talk on how they should cooperate with each other to protect Hoenn after they presented my idea to him. They decided to let bygones be bygones and try to learn how to work with each other for real this time. To show his sincerity, the President showed them the one and only pokemon that he secretly possessed. It was how he managed to find out about all the top-secret League stuffs that the Government shouldn't have any business knowing.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: Porygon-Z

Definitely caught us all by surprise there.

The President's porygon-Z floated a short distance in midair as it stared at me, like it is dissecting me with those yellow eyes of his. After the President found out that I don't have a normal type on my team, he decided that as a show of apology, support, and also his gratitude for me in helping Hoenn averting a potential war, the President had decided to ask Steven for a favour to help deliver his porygon-Z to me personally. The President also attached a letter to porygon-Z's pokeball, explaining the reason on why he is giving his pokemon to me. He stated that he hopes that porygon-Z's powers can keep me safe while I am helping the PWL as a member of the proposed international task force. He had also mentioned since now that both Hoenn Champions and him had come into an understanding, there is no need for porygon-Z to stay by his side any longer to spy on both of them and asked me to take good care of his pokemon. He has full trust in me that I will use porygon-Z's ability wisely and that having his pokemon join my team will be a great help to me when I enter the international task force later on.

The President is probably right at the last part. Porygon-Z's ability is truly one of a kind. The international task force may really need its unique ability to carry out their operations sometime in the future.

Porygons are a new species of pokemon that only appeared in recent years. Not just anyone can get their hands on them. It is a manmade pokemon that was created by scientists in an attempt to make a breakthrough in the area of space exploration. It doesn't even need to breathe and it has the ability to revert itself entirely back to program data, allowing it to freely enter and exit the cyberspace.

The President's porygon-Z had hacked into the League's database using its abilities to read any and all data in the cyberspace. That was how the President knew about things he shouldn't know. He could have also used his porygon-Z to tap into phone calls and surveillance cameras without anyone the wiser.

The realisation actually made me break out in cold sweat. The President sure is one crafty fellow.

The other pokemon I received was from Steven. He had realised that I don't have a steel type on my team and decided to give me one after Vance told him how worried he was for me.

I received a scizor from him.

I had wanted to refuse the offer but my attempt was quickly shot down by the combined efforts of Vance, Steven, and even Brawly. Vance was especially adamant on me taking the scizor as according to him, having more pokemons on my team as strong as the scizor species will increase my chances of survival if things really do go to shit when I am travelling around the world helping to put a stop to the prophecy.

The scizor accepted me rather quickly, which Steven explained that he had told the scizor that he will be giving him away to me before he came here. The scizor has a blank expression on his face and I really cannot tell what he is thinking, but at least he did not decide to cut me into pieces at first sight.

My team is enthusiastic at having more members joining them. Ness had fitted into the team within a day and it looks like pangoro will as well with how he is interacting with them right now at the side of the large room in Dewford gym. I'm not so sure with the remaining two pokemons. I will need to come up with proper names for them when we get back home later. I will also have to start our training proper and get the four new pokemons and Joy up to par as soon as possible. My role in the international task force may be a supportive one, but there's no harm in getting stronger. Things might really go haywire and I may need to help and provide some combat support too. Like Vance said, what we are doing is a lot like what Hoenn's ACE does.

A big change in our lives is coming soon. We will need to prepare for it.

* * *

 **AN: Actually, many of the pokemons here are not what I had in mind initially. Most of them are added when I am halfway into writing this chapter as I concurrently check on the kinds of pokemon Vel has not yet included into her team. These pokemons all possess typings that her team does not have yet. Nidoqueen was added because the only other good option for poison type is a roserade or a gengar imo, considering what I wrote about Vel's body and how hazardous poison types can be. I took out gengar since it will just be a Macky v2.0. I don't really like the roserade species in general so I took it out as well. Nidoqueens are versatile, so I decided to get Vel a nidoqueen.**

 **As for pangoro, I had initially played around with the idea of Vel getting a Lucario or a mienshao. However, Lucario is really overused in the FF community. I really wanted to give Vel a mienshao, but after comparing it to a pangoro, I felt that it is more amusing to write a little girl like Vel commanding a hulking pangoro instead of a small mienshao. It just amuses me for some reason. The other reason is because a pangoro is what I wanted to give Vel initially many months ago, but I decided to put him aside in favour of Joy.**

 **Porygon-Z is there because its existence has been my intended explanation all along on why the President knows about things that he shouldn't know. Vel lacks a normal type and among all the normal types I see, porygon-Z actually sounded like the best fit for her. So there it is.**

 **As for scizor, it is there because Vel lacks a bug and steel type. I know some of you are looking forward to Vel having a scizor on the team too. I also think that scizor will make a good bodyguard for Vel considering how little weaknesses it has thanks to its dual typing. The only true weakness scizor has are fire type techniques, making it an extremely good battler as well.**

 **As much as I like to keep the theme of this story to travelling in general, the reality of the situation that Vel has gotten herself into makes it necessary for her to have some really strong pokemon species in her team to help her in her endeavour. I don't want to give her overly strong pokemon to stay true to the theme of this story so there are some that I avoided, like Lucario and kommo-o, just to name a few. That leaves only a few pokemon left for me to choose and I have to consider the personality I want to give them that makes them unique, their species characteristics, and their fighting power. The four choices that I have made is a result of all these factors on top of many more reasons that I will not go into detail here.**

 **Personally, I like the idea of having a porygon-Z since I don't think anyone has wrote about it before. I even have a really suitable nickname for it too. The only pokemon left now is the one Griff is going to give her. Honestly, it is not that hard to guess what that pokemon is. There is only one pokemon that fits the description of what Griff said.**

 **But since I am feeling a little evil today, I decided to keep you guys in suspense about that mystery pokemon for now. Muahaha.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (?), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (?), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (?), male**


	34. Chapter 34- Back to Lilycove

Vance is a great help in helping me train the new members of my team.

Now that Vance has a lot more time on his hands since all he is doing now is waiting to be officially discharged from ACE, he had volunteered to help me in training my pokemons. My main focus is trying to get the new members of my team up to speed. Among the four of them, only Archer, my scizor, is the best trained pokemon since Steven had trained him a little before passing him over to me. Archer was in Steven's possession for only a week before he passed him to me.

That alone tells you a lot about Steven's ability as a trainer. _One week_. That is all he takes to train Archer to be somewhere between a low-tier advanced level pokemon to a mid-tier advanced level pokemon from zero. No wonder he became Hoenn's new champion despite his young age.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I gave my new members their own respective nicknames. Scizor's name is now Archer, since he reminds me a lot about Archer from the Fate/Stay Night series due to the amount of red they both have and the 'cooler than thou' attitude. Nidoqueen's nickname is Ness, she liked the sound of the name despite it not having a meaning behind it. Pangoro's nickname is Hulk due to his hulking figure and his temperament. He is usually a gentle giant when unprovoked, but he can fly into a rage if someone press the wrong buttons like the green giant in the movies that I am so familiar with in my previous world.

Usually, that someone who presses Hulk's wrong buttons is Kratos, to no one's surprise.

Porygon-Z's nickname though, is probably the nickname that best describe him out of all the nicknames I had gave to my pokemons.

I named him Jarvis.

You heard that right, the same name that Ironman called his A.I. sidekick. Jarvis is an acronym for _'Just A Rather Very Intelligent System'_ in the Ironman verse in the first place. Ain't that the most apt and descriptive name for porygon-z? It is basically what its species is, a very intelligent A.I. given sentience.

Jarvis's species has no gender, but I refer to him as a 'he' anyway. I had also tried to experiment with Jarvis's ability to hack into networks. With Dad's permission, I had let Jarvis attempt and see if he can hack the heavily protected and encrypted network that our family uses for our farm's business.

He only took a minute to cripple it and shut it down.

I can now see why the President is able to find out so much information with Jarvis. The security of our family's database is by no means any less tight than the League's due to the strategic importance of our farm. The President giving Jarvis to me is really a show of sign of trust from him to me. He trusts me to use Jarvis's ability wisely and responsibly.

Jarvis's action also prompted Dad to look into better ways to protect our network and database. Wallace and Steven are also into it the moment I sent them a message about Jarvis's ability through my xtransceiver. If any criminal got their hands on a porygon and used it to infiltrate the League's system, it will be disastrous. We need to find a way to prevent something like that from happening.

As a battler, Jarvis acts like a robot. He follows every single instruction from me down to a T and analyses his opponents' battle style before formulating a response. He will grow to be a powerful battler soon, but his greatest strength lies in his ability to analyse a problem and come up with a solution in the shortest amount of time. The President is really going all out by giving Jarvis to me, and by extension, showing his support to the international force that is confirmed to set up in about two months time, give or take. Jarvis will be invaluable to us.

Ness is one of the most versatile fighters on the team. She has a good mix of both physical and special attacks along with the variety of different types of attacks that she can learn. She can probably be the next Bigblue in being able to handle any type of situation thrown at her. Archer and Hulk are both close-ranged battlers. Archer has the best raw physical defense in my team due to his steel typing and he can tear anything to shreds with his pincers. What I am trying to do now for him is to find ways to get over his weakness to fire type techniques and to find more options for him to engage in a long-ranged battle, just in case he ever finds himself in one. Hulk is the same too. Like what Brawly told me, he excels if it comes down to a fist fight but he only has a few options if his foes decide to snipe their attacks at him from afar.

We will solve that problem given time. I have confidence that they can all at least reach Elite level within the two months that is estimated for the international force to be set up.

The rest of my team are now experienced and strong enough to train on their own even without my guidance. I have taught them the various ways to fight alongside the combos that they can use. Right now, what they need to amass is raw power and proficiency in their techniques. The amount of help I can give them in this regard is limited. I can be creative in teaching them ways to utilise their techniques, but the only way for them to increase their raw power is practise, practise, and more practise.

That leaves Joy, who is now old enough to start training. She is also the one that gave me the biggest surprise with her growth rate. It is like she had hit a magical growth spurt.

I think I now understand why the League chose to give me a cleffa as my reward for the Ever Grande Conference. If I thought that Dolly was a fast enough learner, she paled in comparison as compared to Joy. If Dolly absorbed new techniques like a sponge, then Joy is a black hole that sucked in any knowledge that she is given.

Her initial growth rate may be slow but once she gets past the initial baby phase, Joy is on the road to start to grow into a monster. Already, she can hold her own against Fuzzy even if Fuzzy is not coming at her at his full strength. She is barely a month old.

My family looked very satisfied at the pokemons that I had chosen (or given) to bring along with me when I start to go about on my travels in an effort to thwart the prophecy. The sight of me training my team rigorously seemed to spark a fire in Dad as well. He now joins in on our training whenever he is free, he is trying to get Chewy to evolve into a hydreigon as soon as possible.

It was about two weeks after I got the new members of my team when Wallace had given me a call. He had said that if the international force that I proposed is going to work like a global police, then it will be beneficial for me if I enter Hoenn's LSDF for a short while to get a grasp on how they run in Hoenn so that I will not be going in blind. I agreed and my parents are fine with it as well.

However, the LSDF that I am assigned to will be at Lilycove.

Wallace's reasoning is that Lilycove is on the verge of making a full recovery and the LSDF there are doing everything they can in implementing new measures to ensure that an invasion will never occur at Lilycove again. They are basically restructuring the entire way on how the LSDF works and it will be a good opportunity for me to go and learn from them since the international force will also be starting from scratch. Lilycove is a little too far from home, however, and it will take hours to journey there from home and vice versa even through flight. I also cannot rely on Vance's gallade to Teleport me around since he won't always be at home all the time even if he retired from ACE. I have to find a place to stay at Lilycove during my short time in Lilycove's LSDF.

I don't know how he knew since I never told him, but in the end, Steven offered me to stay with him at his home in Mossdeep. Mossdeep is close enough to Lilycove and he can Teleport me to work in the morning with his claydol before going for work himself at Ever Grande. I can use the LSDF's psychics to Teleport me back to Mossdeep after I knock off from work. It is a privilege given to LSDF officers who do not have pokemons that are able to use Teleport, so travelling will not be an issue.

Usually, my parents will have serious objections about me staying alone with another guy, but this is Steven. His name itself is a representation of everything good and righteous in Hoenn since he is our next Champion. Vance himself have no problems with it since he does crash at Steven's place often enough and they are good friends. He trusts Steven to take care of me where my family can't.

Also, I will be staying temporarily with the next _Champion_. Think about _all_ the training tips that he can share with me during my stay there.

I am excited to report for work at Lilycove already.

* * *

Oh Arceus above, save me.

This is so **_boring_**.

It was interesting to learn what the LSDF really do and the plans they have to protect the city. The city has been rebuilt and any signs of the invasion had been erased. The members of my team that had also experienced the invasion were a little jumpy at being back here, but they got used to it soon enough.

The point is, after I had learnt all I can about what the LSDF does and how they do what they do, I have nothing to do.

I only took one week to learn the ins and outs of Lilycove's LSDF. I still have about two weeks left to go before Wallace deemed it satisfactory that I had at least learnt the basics of Hoenn's LSDF and how they operate. I know that what I learn here will be helpful in the future when I enter the international force, but still.

So boring.

I have been patrolling the city for hours already on Flamel's back in a LSDF uniform. Many of the LSDF officers here at Lilycove were sceptical that a thirteen year old girl entered the force to learn their workings for a few weeks before running off again, but Officer Haley is there as well and she set them straight.

It also helps that my team and I wiped the floor with the officers who had openly doubted my ability when I challenged them to trainer battles after working hours. No one talked shit about me after that.

The battles we had were good battle experiences for the newer members of my team. However, there are some really strong officers there too that required me to use pokemons on the level of my battle-hungry trio. I didn't win every single battle since there _are_ extremely skilled trainers there, but I won most of them. I had quickly gained the respect of the LSDF officers stationed at Lilycove after that.

I am under the direct command of Officer Haley, who has been very nice to me and who was the main person teaching me the ropes. Right now, she is on leave for a few days to prepare for her upcoming wedding a few months later. She had invited me to her wedding but I would probably be somewhere outside Hoenn by then. She was a little disappointed by that.

Snap and Toothless flew lazily in Lilycove's skies. They are wearing a large visible band around their neck to signal that they are a part of the LSDF. It is how we identify if any pokemons flying in the sky here is hostile or not, especially the larger ones. The attack on Lilycove could have been better prevented if Lilycove was able to quickly identify that salamence who fired the opening salvo of Draco Meteor was a hostile one. The end result is the band that Toothless and Snap are now wearing. Anyone who wants to let their pokemons out for a flight in Lilycove's airspace have to first register themselves at the LSDF office to get a neck band for their pokemons if the pokemon in question exceeds a certain size. The neck bands that civilians and trainers receive will be of a different colour from the one the LSDF uses for the purpose of quick identification. Most of the LSDF officer's pokemons are trained to at least listen, or if they are cooperative enough, take orders from fellow LSDF officers since things can be very chaotic in times of crisis. By being able to quickly identify if a pokemon belongs to a LSDF officer, things can potentially be done a lot smoother.

The trainers only have a time limit of a few hours before they are required to return the neck band back to the LSDF. The same arrangement apparently now applies to Slateport as well since like Lilycove, they are both important ports of Hoenn. The arrangement is a little harsh, but no one is complaining if it can help prevent another invasion. I had heard that a better method will be implemented soon that would not need civilians and trainers to go through the hassle of a neck band, but I am not privy to what it is yet. The neck band will still stay for the pokemons that belongs to LSDF officers since it does help us in our duties to a certain extent.

There are also more psychics employed to detect the presence of any hostile thoughts towards Lilycove among other things. The inner workings of it is a little complicated and technical, so I will skip the details.

If I squint a little more and tilt my head at the correct angle, I can see a small speck in the sky that is Fuzzy. He does not need a neck band due to his small size, but he wants one anyway. My colleagues are amused by his antics and gave him the smallest neck band they can find. Fuzzy is just too small to properly wear any of the neck bands available to tag him as a non-threat, even the smallest neck band looks like a cape on him after I tied it around his neck. He still wears it anyway, since I told him that he looks like some kind of superhero in it.

I took a quick break under the shade of a nearby tree as I hydrated myself. Some of my pokemons who enjoys the sun and the patrol are out with me as well. Hulk needs a lot of exercise as a fighting type, so he enjoys the long patrol that we are currently doing since he will be walking a lot. Rena enjoys the sun since she is a sun pokemon. Lily would have been with us too, but she is not that mobile without Rock Surf and I don't want her to ruin the pavements of the city with it as she travels alongside me, so I left her at the backyard of LSDF HQ to enjoy the sun there. It is where the officers of the LSDF let out their pokemons to take a break. Archer is outside since he wants more experience in acclimatising himself to the heat and Lilycove does receive a lot of sunlight here, making the climate a little hot and also humid, thanks to the sea nearby.

"Mummy! Look! Pokemon!"

I turned and saw a four or five-year-old girl running up to my pokemons, not afraid in the slightest. Her mother ran up to her and quickly apologised to me. From the looks of it, she was scared stiff that my pokemons might react unfavourably to her child. It is not an unfounded thought. There are trained pokemons that don't like interactions with any humans foreign to them.

"It's fine. I'm taking a short break anyway." I reassured the woman as she apologised profusely to me for her child's actions. She had assumed that her daughter had caused inconveniences for me as I go about doing my patrol.

Flamel gave a small nudge at the girl with his snout, eliciting a giggle from her. The woman continues to stare at me with her eyebrows furrowed in thought, much to my confusion.

"You were at Lilycove when the invasion happened, weren't you? I remember that rapidash and the espeon, these species are not commonly seen in Hoenn. You had helped me and my husband in saving my girl and then pointing us to the nearest shelter."

Oh, I did that? I can't really remember what I did during the invasion other than the machamp trying to kill us. We are all suddenly caught in a war and everyone is so busy trying to fight for their lives and also to defend Lilycove. I might or might not have encounter this woman and her child. I really cannot recall.

"I was here when it happened." I admitted. "But I'm sorry, I really cannot recall who you are and whether we did meet each other back then. It was too chaotic."

"It has to be you. I remember that long blond hair of yours as well. Thank you!" The woman suddenly thanked me and did a ninety-degree bow, which I quickly waved it off and tried to straighten her back. She really didn't need to thank me even if I did help to save her and her child, I was just trying to help defend the city at that time.

"Mummy?"

"Come here, Sophie, this is your benefactor that saved your life. Say Thank You."

"Thank you, pretty lady!"

That got me flustered immediately.

After a short while, we parted ways as my team and I returned to doing our patrols with a lighter skip in our steps.

"Never thought that we will encounter something like this, eh, Flamel? Rena?"

Flamel gave a snort in response although I can tell that he feels the same way I do.

 _'I guess good things can also result from bad ones, Mistress. It felt nice knowing that our efforts to protect this city had helped, even if it is only a small family of humans.'_

"It does, Rena. It really felt nice knowing that we helped made a difference."

* * *

I hopped off Bigblue's back and recalled him while simultaneously releasing some members of my team. Flamel, Rena, Joy and Archer came out and stood by my side. Fuzzy landed on my shoulder from where he was flying about in the air previously and I felt my shadows moving a little from where Dolly resided. We stood within the Shoal Cave, the location where we tracked the criminal down to. He escaped here somehow when the LSDF forces were searching to apprehend him back at Lilycove.

At that time, I happened to be on patrol near the beach and the criminal would have made his escape if he didn't have the unfortunate luck to bump into Fuzzy, who was having fun flying in the air and immediately recognised him from the wanted poster as the thief who stole some valuable artworks from Lilycove Museum a few days prior and disappeared. When he first escaped, the thief had even somehow cut off the power lines of the surveillance cameras in a huge area of Lilycove, so I couldn't use Jarvis to track him since by the time the cameras were restored, he had vanished with no clues to follow.

I know that these power lines are only there temporarily since Lilycove is still under reconstruction even if it will be finished soon. The cables and power lines will be relaid and shifted underground once the reconstruction is over. Lilycove's security can still be a lot better. I had pointed out the flaw about the surveillance cameras to Officer Haley when I went through the layout of Lilycove with her a few days back and she agreed with me. We just didn't have the time yet to fix it since relaying these lines is a lot of work and back then, the reconstruction of Lilycove takes precedence since the Government urgently needs to build living spaces for those who had lost their homes.

The thief had been laying low these few days and it got to the point that the LSDF thought that he had somehow made his way out already. Apparently, he didn't. The thief was just waiting for the best time to sneak out.

Fuzzy immediately contacted me through Rena and we all gave chase to where Fuzzy had spotted him. I had phoned my colleagues for assistance as per protocol but they will be a little late considering that their focus on searching for the thief is at the wrong side of the city. It will take some time for them to reach me. The thief had used a smoke ball to escape from Fuzzy, much to his irritation. We then subsequently tracked him down through the sea until we reached Shoal Cave, where he went to hide in to escape from us.

I hopped onto Flamel's back as I pulled my coat tighter around my body. Shoal cave is known for housing ice type pokemons due to the low temperature here. This is the only place in Hoenn where you can realistically find wild ice types since our tropical climate is unsuited for them to thrive in Hoenn. I can still endure the temperature of the Shoal Cave on the ground floor, but I cannot say the same for the lower levels. I can only hope that the thief that we are after did not went further down, my body adjust poorly to the cold and I certainly do not want to be down there if I can help it.

"Let's search for that thief. The rest of you stay alert for any ambushes from him or the wild pokemons here. Rena, can you find him?"

Rena's eyes glowed a faint psychic blue as she tried to pinpoint the target's location by focusing her powers on searching for malicious or hostile intent. A short while later, she starts to run in a direction and the rest of us followed. Rena have masterful use of her powers to track down criminals due to her ability to sense hostile thoughts. Dolly is able to do it too, but Rena's ability is a lot more refined and useful for tracking down an individual. Dolly is more proficient in tracking large groups of people.

I groaned inwardly in my mind as we went further and further towards the interior of Shoal Cave. My luck is still as shitty as ever.

We descended down the tunnels and slopes and I can see ice forming on the rock surfaces the lower we went down. The temperature around us starts to plummet the lower we went and Flamel increased his own body heat to protect me from the cold, a gesture which I greatly appreciate. Thankfully, the wild pokemons here gave us a wide berth and avoided me and my team as we continued our chase for the thief. They know that they don't stand a chance against us even if they decide to attack in groups.

Except for one super persistent pokemon.

A glalie, one of the largest I had ever seen and clearly taller than me, burst out from his hiding spot somewhere near the rocky walls of the cave. We don't want to spend more time here than strictly necessary, so Flamel simply trapped him with a Fire Spin and we moved on with Rena leading the way.

I wasn't expecting the glalie to force its way through and gave chase while firing beams of ice at our backs.

Archer got visibly annoyed and shot a Flash Cannon at the glalie as a not-so-subtle way to tell it to back off. The glalie seems to take it as a challenge and unleashed a Frost Breath, the impact from the two attacks resulting in a shock wave that shook the cave a little.

This wild glalie is strong for a wild pokemon. I wonder how it managed to train itself to this level?

Joy supported Archer as she used Gravity on glalie, causing the glalie to immediately slam face first into the floor. Fuzzy sent a Thunder Wave at it to get it to stay down and we continued our chase to find the criminal. He shouldn't have been able to go too far. Last I heard from my colleagues, he was supposedly injured from a scuffle he had with some of them when they were chasing him down.

We traversed the cave in a series of loops and turns. During the entire duration, the glalie actually caught up to us several times despite the wounds he received from us and attacked us relentlessly. We managed to beat him back every single time and escape unscathed, but it is annoying having to deal with it while we are on a race against time to catch the thief.

Rena warned us telepathically that we are getting closer to the thief and we all mentally prepared ourselves for battle. The criminal is known to have several pokemons on him. As to how many, we don't know the exact number, but my colleagues have told me over the walkie earlier before we reached Shoal Cave that they spotted at least three different pokemons during their battle with him. I think that it is reasonable to expect a flying type or a water type from him if he managed to make his way here from Lilycove. It would be impossible to reach Shoal Cave otherwise. If he had a pokemon with Teleport he would have used it already, so it is safe to assume that none of his pokemon knew that move.

We reached a large cavern that is totally frozen in ice and I realised that it is probably one of the lowest levels of Shoal Cave. Flamel's heat is enough to warm me up but I don't want to take any chances with my body. My body can give out on me at the worst possible time. It also sucks that both my xtransceiver and my walkie are unable to contact any of my colleagues since we are so far underground.

Rena went to blast her psychic powers at a huge boulder and crushed it into smithereens. The thief scurried out of there and immediately released his pokemons: a mawile, a smeargle, and a pelipper.

We were about to face off, but then the glalie burst into the cavern through a wall and began his attacks on us. Again.

"Flamel, Joy, we are bringing the glalie down! The rest of you, after the thief!"

Flamel charged into battle with me on his back and Joy headed right in with a Zen Headbutt, smashing the glalie into the wall.

Joy may be tiny, but she sure packs a punch. She is somewhere around the intermediate level right now, which makes her a lot weaker than the other members of my team.

However, she is only about a month old going to two. A month old and she is already at the intermediate level. I really don't understand how she grew so strong at such a rapid rate. It feels almost unnatural.

There's really a lot of things humans still don't know about the cleffa line.

Flamel used a Flamethrower to cook the glalie and Joy used a Copycat on Flamel to use her own Flamethrower on the glalie. That should put it down for a good while.

The glalie emerged with icy fury and I recognised the tell-tale signs of a Protect being used. The glalie had defended itself from the Flamethrower.

"Joy, Encore!"

The glalie looked suitably confused as it kept using Protect repeatedly instead of being able to attack. Its Protect lost its effect after two successful use, which was my goal all along.

"Flamel, Overheat!"

Flamel immediately unleashed the signature white hot flames of his onto the glalie as it screamed in pain. Finally, now it won't be bothering us. I will see if I can heal it back up with Joy's Heal Pulse later before we leave, but for now, I have a thief to catch.

Archer, Rena, and Fuzzy had finished dealing with the thief's pokemons by now and the thief is running away. I can't have that happening.

"Rena!"

 _'I'm on it!'_

Whatever we were doing was interrupted as the glalie unexpectedly broke through Flamel's flames and charged recklessly with a Headbutt with no sense of direction, hitting the icy walls of the cave before charging again, repeating the entire process with a sense of vengeance. The cave trembled and quaked at the impact and I can feel a scowl working its way up to my face. At this rate, the whole cavern will collapse.

I heard the thief giving a scream and I saw the glalie heading for his direction. Shit, the thief may very well get himself killed. We still need him to tell us the location of the stolen artworks that he had hidden too.

"Dolly! Jarvis!"

My shadow dashed towards the thief and manifested in the form of Dolly, who used a Protect to defend the thief from harm. Glalie gave an enraged roar as it tried to call upon a Blizzard, but Jarvis shot out of my xtransceiver as he converted himself from data form to solid form and pushed glalie back with a Shadow Ball. The Glalie gave another roar before glowing a startling bright white.

It knows _Explosion_?!

I don't know what came over me right at that moment. I could have commanded my team to bring it down even before the Explosion can be used, but I did otherwise.

I unclipped an unused pokeball from my belt and threw it at the glalie. The pokeball struck and sucked glalie in as the rest of my team surrounded the wriggling pokeball and watched it warily just in case glalie managed to break free.

A few seconds later, the pokeball went completely still and it was then the realisation sank in.

I had caught myself _another_ pokemon.

Dolly picked the pokeball up and floated back to my side to pass it back to me. I received the pokeball, still in a slight daze, as I muttered my thanks and turned my attention back to the thief, who is still paralysed in fear at his close brush with death.

"Flamel, Hypnosis."

The thief went still before falling asleep and I allowed Dolly to take us back to the surface with a Shadow Sneak. There is already a small force of LSDF on the outside and I spotted Officer Haley the moment we got back to the surface.

"Vel! Thank Arceus you are alright! It is going to be high tide soon and we tried contacting you but there wasn't an answer!"

"Sorry about that." I apologised as some of our colleagues went in to take the thief into custody. "We were too deep underground and there was this insane glalie that was out for our blood and kept chasing after us no matter how we tried to put it down. Putting it down is a difficult task in itself."

Officer Haley's eyebrow rose a little.

"Is it a glalie about this big?" She gestured with her hands and I nodded. Officer Haley just sighed before continuing.

"I don't think we had told you about it since you just joined, but that glalie is somewhat notorious around these parts for being incredibly persistent in challenging any trainers it sees. It won't stop until it has been knocked unconscious. We received complaints about it all the time and we sent word to the Rangers for them to deal with it. Somehow, that glalie was able to evade every attempts of capture by collapsing different parts of the caves and the Rangers don't want to risk the entire Shoal Cave collapsing just to catch a glalie. They put up a warning sign instead, which I guess you missed." Officer Haley pointed a sign which was erected right outside the entrance of the Shoal Cave with a very detailed description of the aforementioned glalie and a photo of it causing mayhem in the caves. She was right, I had missed it. I guess that a trainer had managed to snap a photo of the glalie before bailing out of there.

"Um… About that." I held up glalie's pokeball for her to see, and Officer Haley had a confused look on her face for a moment before coming to a realisation.

"Vel, you couldn't possibly have…"

"I might possibly have caught the glalie you were talking about." I dropped the bomb on her as I clipped the pokeball back onto my belt. "That glalie nearly killed the thief with a Headbutt and then tried to kill all of us with an Explosion. Capturing it is the first thought that came to my mind to save ourselves."

Our colleagues who were also privy to our conversation had also crowd around us curiously. One of them even gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Hah! Good job, Vel! Now we no longer need to deal with complaints from trainers about the glalie."

"Did you flip the entire cave over to catch it?"

"What do you mean flip the entire cave over?" I retorted.

"Hey, you are the Arena Flipper. Your cradily flipped half the arena over in your conference. I watched that match."

"So you are keeping the glalie?" Another colleague asked hopefully.

"I'm releasing it back into the wild the moment I healed it. This glalie is insane, I don't want to deal with it."

"Nah, keep it. If anyone can tame this crazy glalie, it's you."

"I already have _fifteen_ members on my team."

"I thought you Veras are good at taking care of a large number of pokemons due to your farm?"

Wait a minute. My family has a _farm_ , and I do remember that Dad had mentioned that he is planning to build an enclosure specifically for ice types. He wants to increase the number of ice types on our farm since there is a growing demand for ice types. Wild ice types are naturally rare in Hoenn due to our tropical climate so it is very hard for trainers to get their hands on one if they don't visit the Shoal Cave.

This glalie will do. Its vicious behaviour might be a problem, but Dad is also an Elite trainer. I will just transfer this glalie to him and tell him to take extra care in handling this glalie. This glalie is strong for a wild pokemon and any offsprings it might have may be strong too. Our farm needs strong and rare pokemons like this glalie for our growing business in dealing with ice types since it is hard to catch even a snorunt in Hoenn. No one really likes to explore Shoal Cave since not only is it extremely cold, it can be dangerous with how the cave layout changes during the high and low tides. You can be washed away by the tide if you are in the cave at the wrong time. That is not considering the number of wild pokemons there. Only Elite trainers can go in and out of the cave without much worries since their pokemon team will be well equipped by then to protect them from any kind of danger.

Who knows? Maybe Dad will add this glalie into his team. I know that he is considering rebuilding his team after he found out about me getting involved in politics. I think he wants to get back to his former strength as a trainer so that he can protect our farm and the family from harm if someone is foolish enough to have funny ideas. As a trainer, he may have been in retirement for a long time, but Fang and tropius had never stopped training. Right now, Dad also has Chewy with him too and Chewy is a pseudo-legendary. There is also a reason why he was one of Drake's best operatives during his time in ACE.

We all know Dad is a strong trainer even if we had never seen him in a real battle before. Having a glalie with him might do him so good too. The glalie species have the potential to be strong as well.

War may be averted for now, but there is no telling what might happen. All we know is that something will happen and it might not be good. All because of the prophecy.

It is always better to be overprepared than underprepared.

* * *

"… I see, I think I might really get the glalie into my team like you suggested. Anything else I need to know about this glalie?"

"I think that is about it, Dad." I replied through my xtransceiver. "Be careful, none of your pokemons can really handle ice types. Tropius and Chewy have a natural weakness to it."

It is night time and I had finished conducting training for my team in Mossdeep after getting back from my job. Tate and Liza were happy to see me and we had trained together for a short while before we decided to call it a day.

"I will be fine. By the way, is that the extent of your team? I thought that I had mentioned that you need to get a smaller size pokemon that is also strong in combat."

I shifted the camera of my xtransceiver to Archer, who is standing by my side with his usual poker face in my room at Steven's house. Steven is away for some ACE mission, so he won't be back for quite some time.

That also means that I will have to wake up early to travel to Lilycove to work every morning by flight. Thankfully I can use the LSDF psychics to help Teleport me back here for the return trip.

"Archer is about the size of an ordinary human. He fits the criteria, Dad, he can fit into most buildings. Jarvis is strong too and he can hide in my xtransceiver by going into data form. He acts like a robot, but he can be even sneakier than Dolly."

"I guess that will suffice, although I will still prefer if you have more pokemons that can follow you around like what Archer is doing. Are you free tomorrow night?"

"I will be. Why?"

"The pokemon I mentioned that I will be giving you is arriving tomorrow. You will need to release… let me check if it is a he or a her… a her. You will need to release her into the sea for a swim regularly to keep her healthy and happy. Thankfully, our home is situated near to the sea as well, so you can just let it swim there and not worry about her mental health when you rest at home. I will be transferring the pokemon to you tomorrow night."

"So, what will I be getting?"

Dad gave me a mischievous look through the small screen of my xtransceiver.

"Secret."

"Dad~" I whined.

"Fine, fine. It is a lapras. I had to get my contacts to ship her over from the Sevii Islands so it took a while. Lapras will keep you safe when you are out travelling on the seas. Their species enjoys giving rides to humans on their back, so don't hesitate to use her to travel around if you feel like it."

I paused for a short while. A lapras? Those are very rare. Just how did Dad managed to get a lapras in such a short amount of time? That is including the time needed to ship lapras here to Hoenn and that takes a while.

"Dad, how did you manage to-"

"Get a lapras for you so soon? I told you, Vel, we are influential. All I had to do was to make a phone call. You see the extent of our influence now?"

That is Dad for you. He is the only one that can give you lessons while giving you presents at the same time.

"Honestly speaking, their species don't like to battle and that is part of the reason why they are on the brink of extinction. They rarely fight back." Dad explained over the call. "But that doesn't mean that they are bad at battles. On the contrary, they are very good at battling once they finally decide to battle. It's up to you on how you want to raise lapras, but I recommend that you train lapras like how you train the rest of your team. Most pokemons won't refuse the chance to train even if they don't like battling. Your Fuzzy and Kel are good examples of this."

Archer gave a curious sideway tilt of his head and squinted at Fuzzy as if in disbelief. Fuzzy simply squeaked back at him. If I read the situation right, I think Archer cannot comprehend the idea of anyone not enjoying battles.

I have a feeling that my battle-hungry trio may grow into a quartet soon. Maybe a quintet if Hulk joins in. Ness and Jarvis are good at battling as well, but they are not bloodthirsty. Dad had said that the lapras species does not like battling, so I don't think lapras will join the battle-hungry group.

But why do I have the sudden feeling that I will be proven wrong?

* * *

 **AN: Fourth Chapter for the weekend done and dusted. The reason for the quick completion of this chapter is because the glalie part was done a long time ago. I had wanted a glalie for Vel, but things changed along the way so it is not possible for her to get a glalie now. However, I really want a glalie to be in this story, so I gave glalie to Griff instead.**

 **And like you guys suspected. Yes, a lapras. And I really hope you guys had a laugh when I released the nickname for porygon-z. I really think the name of Jarvis is 100% made for him.**

 **I am also very glad and relieved that the plot twist pulled through. With that, I can now work on the travelling the world part. I will try not to disappoint.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy the story.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (?), female**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Zweilous (Chewy), male**

 **4) Glalie (?) male**

 **5) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **6) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **7) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **8) Ursaring (deceased)**


	35. Chapter 35- Chill

"Vance?"

Flannery called out curiously the moment she spotted her boyfriend whipping up dinner in her kitchen. She wasn't expecting such a sight the moment she reached home after work.

"Sit down and take a rest. Dinner will be ready soon."

"You sure you don't need help? I still want my kitchen intact after dinner, you know?"

Vance gave her a flat look as he finished cooking the admittedly delicious looking meal.

"I know I can be clumsy, but I do help my Mum around in the kitchen. My cooking skills is even better than Vel and she is not bad at it either."

Flannery whistled in surprise. They have only started dating for a short while, but she only just found out that her boyfriend can actually cook. Extremely well too, from the looks of it.

Definitely a keeper. Now she no longer needs to survive on instant noodles anymore whenever she is hungry.

She helps Vance set the table and to also serve food to their pokemons, who are mostly out at the backyard of her house where they are released to stretch their legs. Vance had also cooked up a large portion for both their pokemons. Domesticated pokemons have no complaints towards the factory manufactured pokemon food that most of their kind are served with, but they will enjoy it if their humans are capable of whipping up a delicious, piping hot meal for them as well. Knowing how to cook homemade pokemon food is a must-know skill for a Vera given their family business, Flannery should have guessed that the same skill would apply to Vance's ability to cook human food. There are jobs such as pokemon cooks, although they are usually a luxury that the rich can afford for their pokemon. The services of a pokemon cook do not come cheap due to the sheer number of different types of pokemons there are in this world and each of them have their own different needs. It is not easy to become a certified pokemon cook because of that, there is just so much to learn to become a proper pokemon cook. There are ways to prepare a generic meal that can be consumed by any pokemon, but the taste will definitely be lacking as compared to a meal specifically made for the pokemon in question.

Flannery have no idea how her boyfriend did it, but he managed to cook something specific for each and every of their pokemons as best as he can. Her fire types are given a big portion to share among themselves. According to Vance, this is the Vera recipe that is catered to fire types in general. His own pokemons have their own specific meals since they all have different typings.

Makes her wonder how long he took to complete everything.

"Not bad, right?" Vance asked with a hint of pride in his tone. "Admit it, my cooking skills are top notch. Even Mum had asked whether I will be considering getting a license to be a certified pokemon cook."

"How many times did you nearly die in the kitchen to get to this level of skill?"

Vance remained silent, but the howling of Macky's laughter told her everything she needs to know.

"I guess that means a lot."

The two of them enjoy a comfortable meal at the backyard of her house with their pokemons with the setting sun as the background. Flannery felt like this is blissful paradise. Heh, now she can claim that she has a good eye for guys.

"I can come around more often to cook for you if you like. I know you are always busy since you are a gym leader. You need to eat something that is not instant noodles."

"Vance, I know you have a lot more time now since you are retiring from ACE, but-"

"And I should use the extra time and spend it with the people that I care about." Vance breathed out a sigh as he paused in his meal. "It took me a big argument with Vel and then a huge scolding from Dad to realise that I have been neglecting them."

Flannery blinked her eyes in puzzlement. What happened?

"I know Wallace told you about the prophecy crap and what Vel did to prevent the possibility of a world war as much as possible. She wants to be a part of the international force, or whatever fancy title the group will be called as in the future. It is dangerous being a part of that kind of organisation, the nature of their duties cannot be easy. I tried to talk Vel out of it but she suddenly snapped. It was like whatever quiet discontentment she has with me since day one suddenly exploded in one big mess. It was then that I realised that I had missed out on a lot. I missed out on her growing years. I joined ACE almost immediately after my conference ended. I was too busy going on missions after missions that I didn't realised that my little sister had actually grown up. I didn't realise this fact because I hardly have time to spend with her and my family due to the nature of my work."

Flannery slowly put down her cutlery and reached out a hand towards Vance, gently putting it over his hand as a show of support.

"Quitting ACE couldn't have been easy for you, I know how much you love your job. It wasn't easy for me either when I quit the LSDF to be a gym leader, but thankfully I ended up loving the job of a gym leader more than I did as an officer of the LSDF. I never told you about my parents, did I?"

Vance gave a shake of his head.

"They were Rangers, the best of the best, from what I heard from my grandfather. Because of that, I rarely saw them since they are so good at what they do and they are needed by the Rangers at almost everytime, everywhere. I hated them when I was a kid, because they never have time for me." Flannery spoke in a regretful tone as her eyes misted up a little. "Then suddenly, when I was eight, they got themselves killed on a mission gone wrong. When they died, I didn't even know what their favourite food was, or their favourite colour, or their preferences and habits in general. Grandfather was the one who raised me up, my parents were just that busy."

Flannery looked back up at her boyfriend as she dabbed away the tears threatening to form at the edges of her eyes.

"So that is why I think that you made the correct choice. I know the initial phase is hard, especially when you are trying to adjust to the lack of battles and the adrenaline that comes with it, but trust me, it will be worth it. If you really want to continue battling, then consider finding a part-time job that can allow you to do that. My gym no longer has any available slots, but I can ask around if there are any gyms that needs a gym trainer."

"Thanks." Vance said quietly as he gently went to grasp Flannery's hand on the tabletop to show her his support as well. "I think I really need to hear what you just said."

"You and Vel made up with each other, right?"

"We did. By the way, have you heard of the Battle Frontier?"

"Oh, that? Yeah. You want to go visit it together when it is finally open? I heard that it will be completed soon although Scott is still having trouble finding another Frontier Brain. He had asked Spenser -you know that he is the previous gym leader of Mossdeep, right?- but he had said that he will only accept the offer if Scott really has no other suitable candidate to fill the last slot with. He had said that he is too old and he wants to enjoy his retirement if possible." Flannery then took out her pokenav as she uses it to check the calendar. "Well, I think I am able to take a few days off from work around the time the Battle Frontier is supposed to open. We can go enjoy a good battle together, there are double battle segments where trainers can compete together as a duo against other duos. It will be fun."

"Actually." Vance started out slowly as if he is afraid of her subsequent reaction to whatever he will be saying. "I am thinking of asking Scott if he thinks I am a suitable candidate to be a Frontier Brain. I know I am strong enough to be one, so I hope that this is enough for me to be accepted."

"What?"

"I had discussed it with Dad. Despite the glamour behind it, the job of a Frontier Brain is basically a nine-to-five job and it isn't as hectic as what I usually do in ACE. I will still have time to spend with whoever I want to spend with, be it you or my family and I will still have enough time to help out on the farm. Furthermore, I can continue to enjoy exciting battles. I don't see a problem with this arrangement yet. The only problem is probably the distance, but my gallade's Teleport is good enough to Teleport me to almost anywhere in Hoenn in a single jump, so travelling wouldn't be an issue."

"In that case, go for it. You are a natural in battles, Vance. It is a waste if you stop battling the moment you drop out of ACE. I think being a Frontier Brain will be good for you. You can also learn from the other Generalists there."

"Vel said that the one who had beat her in her conference will be a Frontier Brain too." Vance commented as he adopted a thinking pose with his fingers stroking his chin. "Maybe I should give him a beatdown when I see him. Vel was a little upset with how she lost even if she got over it fast enough. I mean, come on, _Attract_? Really? That was dirty."

"Vance."

"What? It will be just a normal trainer battle."

"Still, no."

"Just _one_ battle?" Vance asked meekly as he slowly raised a single finger. " _Please_?"

"No."

* * *

"Welcome back, Steven. How did your mission go?"

"Everything's fine. How about you?"

"I just received a lapras from Dad about five minutes ago." I replied as I waved the pokeball that contains the last member of my team at Steven. "I am about to go out right now to release her and meet her for the first time. Do you want to come? If you are not too tired from your mission, that is."

Steven paused for a moment before he nods his head.

"I think I would like to come. Lapras are rare and it is not everyday that I get to see one. Just let me get changed first."

I sat on a chair in his living room as I idly took out my handkerchief to polish the surface of the pokeball that houses the newest member of my team while waiting for Steven. A lapras. I still couldn't believe Dad got me a lapras in such a short amount of time.

I still cannot believe how influential our family really is.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's go."

Both Steven and I walked out of his house and made our way towards Mossdeep's beach at a leisurely pace.

I really cannot wait to meet the newest member of my team.

I let out my entire team the moment we found a secluded spot on the beach that is also big enough to hold all of us.

"We will be meeting the newest member of our team. I don't know how she will react to us but I heard her species can be a little timid, so don't scare her with your rowdiness. Kratos, don't try to hide behind Ness, I am looking at you. Toothless, Snap, don't laugh. You two can be even worse than him."

My words got my team exploding into bouts of laughter. Even Steven chuckled with his skarmory by his side, who is already cawing out in laughter. Steven's entire team had met mine and they know how rowdy my team can be.

I walked towards the sea and released lapras out of her pokeball.

Lapras appeared in a songful cry on the beach. She took a curious look at her surroundings before spotting me.

"Hi there, my name's Velda although everyone calls me Vel. I don't know if anyone had told you before this, but I am your new trainer. It's nice to meet you."

Lapras returned my words with another tune as she lowered her head to get a better look at me. I reached out to stroke the bottom of her jaw and the side of her face. Dad had told me that most of their species enjoyed being stroked in that manner.

"Do you want a nickname? Everyone on my team has one. If you don't want one, that is fine as well. I know some pokemons don't like having nicknames."

Lapras gave a curious tilt of her head and sang out a reply.

 _'She said that she will appreciate it if she has a unique name to call her own, Mistress.'_

 _'Thanks, Rena.'_

"In that case, how about-"

"VEL! There you are!"

Don, Mossdeep's self-proclaimed pokeblock enthusiast ran up to me and Steven with his medicham following behind. What is he so excited for?

"Did you remember that you asked me if any of those rare pokeblocks arrived? They just did! Hurry! They might be sold out if we wait any longer!"

Those pokeblocks are said to be very tasty and according to Don, every pokemon who had ate it had enjoyed the taste. Although I really have to say, couldn't the pokeblocks come at a better timing?

Lapras gently nudged me with her head and gestured to me to get going.

"I will be back soon, I promise. Guys, take care of her, ok? We won't be long."

I quickly followed Don with Steven following us. He is also interested in those legendary pokeblocks and is curious to see if they really live up to its name. My smaller pokemons followed me while the bigger ones opted to stay and relax on the beach together with lapras.

Luckily, lapras seems to be pretty chill and doesn't seem to be a battle-hungry type. She should be fine with the rest of my team. Bigblue and Ness are there, they can help to keep some sense of order. Lily and Hulk are there too. Everything should be fine.

I will also need to see if I can find pokeblocks suited for lapras. It is also a common tactic for trainers to use the favourite food of the species of pokemon they had just caught or obtain to make it easier for the pokemon to open up to them. Lapras seems friendly enough even if we only met minutes ago, but I think she will love it if she can eat some really nice treats.

Steven is the heir to the Devon Corporation and I am the heiress to the Vera Farm, maybe we should just buy them all? It will be as easy as snapping our fingers.

* * *

 _'OW! Ness, stop it!'_

 _'Stop looking at lapras in that manner. Vel said not to scare her and you are leering at her like she is some sort of tasty berry. I know that look. Push down your itch for battles and learn some discipline.'_

 _'Toothless and Snap are also itching to fight her and I don't see you hitting them on the head either!'_

 ** _BONK BONK_**

 _'There. Now it's fair. So stop complaining.'_

 _'Damn it, Ness! What did we do?'_

 _'Yeah, what did we do? All we are doing is to look after her!'_

 _'I am not born yesterday, I know that look. You guys just want to start battling her straightaway, don't even deny it._ ' Ness said as if that is the most obvious thing in the world.

 _'We are not-'_

 ** _BONK_**

 _'Ok, ok! Stop hitting us already!'_

Lily gurgled happily as she whispered to Bigblue.

 _'Finally, someone who is strong enough to put them in their place.'_

 _'Vel made the right choice getting Ness into our team. She made our life so much easier and quieter.'_ Bigblue admitted as he and Lily enjoy the sea breeze. Lapras is on the edge of the beach where the boundary of the lapping sea waves and the sands are, watching them curiously. Only the battle-hungry trio, Ness, Hulk, and the both of them are at the beach together with lapras. The rest of them had followed Vel to get their hands on the legendary tasty pokeblocks.

Lily and Bigblue gulped down their saliva at the thought of eating the pokeblocks. They really hope Vel can get her hands on those legendary treats and pray that they are really as tasty as people claim them to be.

 _'I have no idea how you two endured the three idiots for as long as you guys did.'_ Hulk said in his gruff voice as he sat down beside the two of them. _'Makes me wonder if there is a compulsory criterion to be stupid if you want to be strong.'_

 _'Maybe it really is. They are all a little suicidal in how they usually train themselves. Maybe you need a lack of sense of self-preservation to get stronger.'_ Lily joked as she swayed about at her spot. _'Did Bigblue tell you how Snap purposely flew through his Blizzard attack? All because he thinks it will help him endure the cold better if he did it repeatedly? Vel was mad at him for that.'_

 _'-And HOW will you know if you never ask?'_ Kratos's loud voice boomed out over the quiet clearing they are at as he argued with Ness. _'Maybe she likes battling too!'_

 _'Vel told us to look after her, not to battle her. Didn't she also say that her species doesn't like battles and can be very timid? Look at how chill she is. Does she look like a fighter to you?'_

' _Never know till you try.'_ Snap backed Kratos up as he casually walked towards lapras, who is still watching them in curiosity.

 _'Snap, get back here. I don't want to go about cleaning up your mess.'_

 _'We will be fine, just introducing myself, be friendly, show her around the team, the usual.'_ Snap waved Ness off as he finally stood in front of the new member of their team.

 _'Hey, want to spar? Just a friendly one, nothing too big or intense. It's how we greet each other in our team every time we see each other.'_

 _'It is the only way you three idiots greet each other! Don't feed her lies!'_ Ness cried out as she pointed an accusing claw at Snap.

 _'A battle?'_ Lapras asked excitedly and her eyes visibly lit up at the mention of it. Bigblue swears that if she has legs instead of flippers she will be jumping on the spot right now. _'My pack trained me before I was sent here. I don't know how strong I am, but I am willing to try! Let's battle! Let's all say hi to each other!'_

 _'What?'_ Hulk huffed out in disbelief. _' **Another** idiot? Come on. The three of them is enough to drive me to the brink of insanity, we don't need another idiot on the team.'_

 _'I think she is just ignorant and a little naïve.'_ Lily commented _. 'It looks as if she had never saw anything beyond what her pack saw. It is like she is seeing everything around her for the first time. She had probably never battled for real before. Are we stopping them?'_

 _'If it is Snap, then it should be fine. He is not as stupid as the other two._ ' Hulk commented as he crossed his arms. _'He knows how to tone down his attacks. Lapras may have the type advantage, but she should be relatively untrained from what she just said. Snap can beat her with no problems. We just have to keep an eye on Snap and make sure that he does not go overboard.'_

 _'Good point.'_ Lily gurgled out in agreement.

Ness accepted the inevitable outcome with an annoyed look on her face.

 _'Go too far, and you answer to Vel, Snap. I am not taking responsibility for this.'_

 _'We will be fine. Can you be the referee? I don't know why humans always wants to be the referee for any of the matches. Can't pokemons be referees as well?'_

 _'Just get it started.'_ Toothless grunted out.

Ness looked apprehensive but decided to just go along with the flow. She is enough to stop Snap if need be even if she isn't as strong as he is. She can still keep things under control.

 _'Ok, but don't go overboard. Three.'_ Ness started counting down as she stood a short distance away and Kratos raised rocks so that their surroundings now look like those of an arena used in official battles. _'Two, one. Start!'_

 _'YAY! BATTLE!'_

Much to everyone's shock, the lapras somehow jumped into the air and landed right in front of Snap in the blink of an eye. A mighty slap of her flipper sent the unprepared Snap flying through the rock walls and embedded into the side of a nearby rock cliff.

Did Snap just get himself KO'ed in a **_single_** hit?!

 _'SO FUN! IS THIS HOW BATTLE WORKS? LET'S ALL BATTLE! LET'S ALL SAY HI TO EACH OTHER!'_

To everyone's horror, a massive wave of water from the sea was called upon by lapras with Surf.

It is a freaking tsunami.

 _'HOLY FLYING DIGLETTS! THIS GIRL IS THAT STRONG?'_ Hulk exclaimed as he quickly climbed up the cliff to escape the waters with Lily taking a ride by latching onto him with her tentacles. Bigblue raised himself up with a Stone Edge to avoid the mayhem.

 _'FINALLY! A WORTHY OPPONENT!'_ Kratos cried out excitedly as he went in to disperse the wave of water with a massive Dark Pulse. _' **FIGHT ME**!'_

Toothless roared in response as well as he used a Solar Beam at lapras, who simply summoned a massive Thunder out of nowhere and destroyed the Solar Beam. The skies are sunny and clear right now, how did she just summon a Thunder from the skies in that manner?!

 _'YAY! THIS IS SO MUCH MORE FUN THAN THE BATTLES I HAVE WITH MY PACK! MORE! MORE! HELLO EVERYONE!'_

 _'You guys stop this right now!'_ Ness shouted out as she dashed in to try and stop the chaos from escalating even further than it is right now. _'Stop! STOP!'_

 _'YOU WANT TO BATTLE TOO? YAY! ICE BEAM!'_

The three spectators can only watch in shock and disbelief as Ness got herself froze into a cube of ice almost instantly. Ness may be new to the team, but she is by no means weak.

 _'Guys, we need to do something if we don't want to get a week's worth of lecture from Vel.'_ Bigblue whispered carefully with his mouth wide open in disbelief at the scene playing out in front of them. The three of them all exchanged worried looks before coming to a unanimous decision.

With their mind made up, the only thing the three spectators can do is to jump into the fray to prevent the three-way battle between Kratos, Toothless, and lapras from spiralling out of control.

 _'Oi! Rock brain, cut it out!'_ Hulk entered with a Low Sweep and knocked Kratos off his feet. _'Do you want to get punished by Vel?'_

 _'Hey, get out of the way! I finally found another worthy opponent that isn't Toothless or Snap!'_

Kratos divided the area with a huge wall of rock in between him and Hulk. Hulk broke through it with a few punches and tried to wrestle Kratos into submission as the two of them went tumbling onto the sandy beach.

Meanwhile, Bigblue is trying to get Toothless to stop firing his attacks at lapras from the air as Lily went to try and talk sense into lapras, only for lapras to mistake Lily as another contender.

This is a complete mess.

 _'WOOHOO! I NEVER FELT SO HAPPY BEFORE! THIS IS SO FUN! ALRIGHT, TIME FOR THE SUPER POWERFUL WEATHER CHANGING **BLIZZARD**!'_

 _'Hulk, get off me! We need to get out of the way of the-'_

Toothless, Bigblue, and Lily all paused in their actions as they watched Kratos and Hulk got themselves froze into ice statues together with the entire area that they are at.

 _'Guys, I don't think we should be trying to stop each other. We need to stop her._ ' Lily said warily as she shifted herself closer to Bigblue and Toothless for protection from this madness. _'No one told us that she is strong enough to take out even Kratos.'_

 _'I don't think even Vel knew that lapras is that strong.'_

Just at that moment, lapras turned her attention to them.

 _'YOU GUYS ALSO WANT TO BATTLE? YAY! LET'S ALL BATTLE!'_

Crap.

* * *

 _'Mistress, fire-brain and Lily had both just sent an urgent message for us to return back now. Things have gotten out of control.'_

What did my team do this time?

"Steven, Don! I am heading back first! Something happened on the beach!"

Steven quickly helped and took the bag of pokeblocks from me as I jumped onto Flamel's back. He immediately galloped off in the direction of the beach as the rest of my team followed behind. Just what happened? They have only **ONE** job and that is to **look** after lapras! How hard can it be?!

I have a feeling the battle-hungry trio is at fault here. I shouldn't have left them with lapras, who knows what trouble they are going to stir up this time?

We quickly arrived onto the scene and what is laid out in front of us got our tongues tied. Even Fuzzy is quiet.

Snap had gotten himself embedded into the rocky cliff of the beach and then froze in a huge block of ice, like someone is trying to prevent him from getting out of the rock cliff. Hulk is grabbing a struggling Kratos from behind and they too, are frozen in ice together with an entire section of the beach. Bigblue looks like he was attempting to escape into the sea but again, frozen in ice like the rest of the team. Ness is now a gigantic ice cube. Toothless is hovering high above in the sky, he is so high up that he is a mere speck in the sky now. I wouldn't have spotted him if it wasn't for the bright flame at the end of his tail.

And is that Lily riding on his back? I think I see tentacles waving from Toothless's back.

Lapras made her way up to me excitedly. She is _bouncing_ , that is the only way I can describe what she is doing right now. She looks like an excited puppy who had just did something worthy to be called an achievement and wants someone to praise her.

 _'Rena? Can you translate what just happened?'_

Rena's left eye is twitching uncomfortably in visible annoyance and the twitching got worse as she conversed more with the excited lapras.

 _'She is asking if she did a great job in greeting the team. Snap had told her that a spar is how we greet each other and then… it turned into **THIS**.'_

Lapras nudged me with her head in an excited manner, waiting for my praise. I sighed as I patted her head. _How_ am I going to explain to her that this is **_not_** how our team greet each other? Lapras let out a satisfied cry at my touch and peered at the rest of my team.

Uh oh.

"No more battles, lapras." I disrupted her thinking before she sprouts anymore funny ideas in that head of hers. "You need to learn how to chill. I don't know what nonsense Snap told you but having a battle every single time we see each other is **_not_** how we greet each other in our team."

Lapras gave me a shocked look and whined. She looks visibly distressed at the thought of not being able to battle.

Damn it, Snap. What have you done?!

On the other hand…

"You know what? I am just going to name you Chill, I have a feeling that you are going to need that reminder, a **_lot_**. Might as well put it in your name."

Chill gave an excited whistle as she starts to shift excitedly at her spot once more the moment I named her. She even released an Icy Wind into the air like fireworks the moment she got herself a name.

"Chill." I called her name tiredly in resignation as I placed a hand on my forehead to soothe the incoming headache. Someone save me from this madness. I am also going to need to ask Dad on **_where_** exactly he had gotten Chill from.

"Chill. Chill?" The repeated calling of Chill's name finally got her attention and she looked at me with a cute tilt of her head.

"You need to _chill_."

* * *

 **AN: A short chapter, but I think you guys will appreciate the slice of life moment that I had been cooking up in my head. I only have three hours to write this out, so there will probably be a fair share of mistakes in it since I don't really have the time to check. Regardless, this chapter is here for me to properly introduce Chill and to help you guys better understand the personality of the new pokemons in Vel's team a little better, it has no real significance to the plot other than trying to get you guys to laugh.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**


	36. Chapter 36- Archer

"Chill, focus. The sharpedos are not here to play with you or to say hello. Stay away from them."

I reminded Chill once again to stay on her course from where I am riding on her back. She is giving me a ride on the sea around Mossdeep's perimeter. The bigger members of my team that were frozen are now at the pokemon center where the nurses are in the process of thawing them out of the ice. Seeing that I have nothing better to do, I decided to go surfing with Chill and Steven tagged along with us. Toothless is flying overhead high up in the sky, still a little wary of Chill and giving her a _very wide_ berth. Fuzzy is sitting on Chill's head, grabbing onto her horn as he squeaked loudly into the sky in a dramatic fashion. Rena is unwilling to translate for me what Fuzzy is saying since according to her, what Fuzzy is saying right now is utter nonsense and completely incomprehensible.

Rena yawned lazily from where she is beside me with Joy snuggling next to her. Steven is also with us sitting right behind me as his skarmory flew alongside Toothless. His armaldo is swimming beside Chill, happy to take a swim.

Talking about Chill.

I raised my xtrancivever up and spoke to it.

"Jarvis, call Dad."

The screen of my xtranceiver blinked in response as it automatically began to dial Dad's number. Jarvis prefers to live in my xtransceiver in his data form instead of his pokeball. He enjoys serving me, his trainer. I suspect this is something which I think is a mentality that the scientists who invented his species had programmed into them since the extent which he tries to make himself useful to me is a little too much for it to be natural. He goes out of his way to make my life as convenient and easy as possible as long as it is within his power to do so. I don't want to treat him as some sort of slave, but whenever I broached this topic with him, Jarvis gets extremely distressed since he thinks that I might abandon him.

In the end, I decided to let him be. If him serving me truly makes him happy, then I will just let him do whatever he wants in this regard. It is not like I will abuse or mistreat him, I just want him to know that he does not need to have such high level of servitude towards me. He is my friend, not my slave.

I don't think Jarvis have fully comprehended that concept yet despite having a highly sophisticated A.I. brain, but I think I got him thinking.

Jarvis is the second pokemon on my team that is capable of conversing with me. So long as he is able to enter an electronic device with a screen, he can type words and display it for me to see what he is trying to tell me and I will respond by simply speaking back to him. Jarvis can hear me when he is inside the cyberspace even if I don't know how he managed it.

Have I mentioned that Jarvis enjoys playing the little games I downloaded onto my xtransceiver?

Jarvis's favourite is Tetris. I had downloaded that particular game a long time ago during my gym circuit when I was at Slateport and waiting for Vance to meet me. He was an hour late. I passed some of the time by downloading that game and played with it for a while, and then completely forgot about the existence of the game on my xtransceiver thereafter. Jarvis found the game when he was exploring the contents of my xtransceiver in his spare time and experimented with it.

His highscore in the game is now the highest score across the globe. In fact, the top ten highest score for Tetris were completed by a player with the username 'Jarvis'. There was even a small section on the newspaper two days ago where the reporters reporting the recent mysterious appearance of a Tetris player sweeping across the Tetris's leaderboard and got many players worldwide thinking if it is even possible to achieve such a high score in the game.

Well, it is possible. Just that it is not humanely possible since it was an A.I. that achieved it.

My xtransceiver rang for a short while before Dad picked up the call.

"Vel?"

"Dad." I greeted as I think of how I should ask him my burning question. Go straight to the point? Sounds good.

"How and where did you get my lapras? I need to know the details. I named her Chill, by the way."

Chill shot beams of ice excitedly into the air the moment she heard her name, scaring away all the wingulls in the vicinity.

"The Sevii Islands. Four Island, to be specific. Chill was taken from a pack of lapras under Lorelei's care. Her lapras, who is also her starter, is the leader of the pack."

Suddenly everything makes a lot more sense. If Chill was taken from such a pack, it explains why she is so good at combat.

It is a well-known fact that Lorelei had quit being an Elite Four member to better help in the conservation efforts to protect the lapras species in her hometown, Four Island. Lapras are an endangered species and needs special care and protection from humans to prevent them from going extinct. However, in Chill's case, she was probably too well-protected since she looks at everything as if she had never seen them before. She had probably never ventured beyond Four Island until she was given to me.

"Vel? Is everything alright? Is Chill giving you problems?" Dad asked when he took my silence as something to be worried about.

"It's fine. It's just that Chill is unexpectedly strong. I left her alone on the beach for only about fifteen minutes and she took out almost half of my team in that short amount of time, and by that I mean she took out the stronger ones. She had beaten even Kratos by freezing him in ice. It may have been a sneak attack from her since I don't think she is _that_ strong to beat Kratos in direct combat, but even Toothless is a little scared of her."

"Chill is that strong? I had asked Lorelei if she had any lapras on hand to be given away to an Elite level trainer but I didn't think she would part with such a strong one. Lorelei even seems eager to do so."

"You will know why she reacted that way if you see Chill in action." I replied in a deadpan as I turned on the camera on my xtransceiver so that Dad can see what is going on at my side. I turned the camera towards the sea where a large pack of sharpedos are swimming around us, probably trying to hunt us down but a little wary about us at the same time.

"Vel, are you sure about this?" Steven asked with caution from where he is sitting behind me. Even his armaldo had slowed down its pace and started to swim behind us, a little afraid of what Chill can really do.

They are actually feeling afraid for the sharpedos, not us. It's not that hard to understand, the beach we were at is still frozen and there are kids there now that took this chance to have a fun time there by playing at the frozen beach. At least some good came out from all the trouble.

"Dad needs to see this. Watch carefully, Dad. Chill, go say hello to the sharpedos."

Chill gave an excited cry as she immediately swam towards the pack of sharpedos at high speed. The sharpedos took this as a cue to charge at her as well, jaws snapping and ready to tear us into shreds.

Chill sucked in a breath before unleashing a massive Blizzard at the main bulk of the pack, freezing them into a massive iceberg. One of the sharpedos managed to get up close to her but she smacked it far and away with one of her flippers. I think that sharpedo just suffered a concussion with how hard Chill had smacked it.

"See that? Her strength is a little unnatural. Not only that, she thinks that the best way to say hello to any pokemon is through a battle. My trio will not be the ones giving me white hair, she will."

A huge blast of Freeze-Dry froze the remaining sharpedos around us as Chill happily went to talk to the frozen sharpedos through the ice, further emphasising my point. The entire beatdown did not take even a minute.

"I think I can now see why Lorelei was so enthusiastic in sending Chill over." Dad admitted. "Taking care of Chill must not have been easy, even with her lapras leading the pack. I heard from Lorelei that Chill is an offspring of her lapras, which is the main reason why I chose Chill specifically for you out of all the available lapras Lorelei presented me with."

"Chill definitely learnt more than just swimming from her parent." I sighed as I turned the camera back to point at my face so that Dad can see me.

"At least things will not be boring?" Dad said in an attempt to make me see things in a more optimistic light.

"Definitely. Don't laugh, Steven." I glared at the future Hoenn Champion, who didn't even bother to hide his laughter from me as he laughed at my predicament. "I will find a pokemon similar to Chill and I will give it to you. You just wait."

"Nah, that won't happen. Chill is one of a kind. Right, Chill?"

Chill summoned a Thunder down this time in excitement, almost frying Steven's armaldo in the process.

"Chill, _chill_."

Chill immediately schooled her face back into a serious expression, trying very hard to calm herself down. So far, she hasn't lasted half a minute before she gets back into her usual behaviour.

"Just you wait, Steven. I will give you a Steel type that is too damn good for you to refuse but with Chill's personality. Just you wait."

"I can help to find a pokemon like that." Dad chipped in.

"Can I refuse the offer?" Steven asked with caution. We are the Veras. Any pokemon that we want to find, we can probably find them if we put our heart into it. I turned around to face Steven once more before giving him my reply.

"No."

That's what he gets for laughing at my predicament.

* * *

' _This is the nicest thing eveeeerrrrrrrr!_ ' Fuzzy said with his mouth full as he turned towards Archer. _'Right, Reddy?'_

Archer merely took another bite out of his pokeblock, completely ignoring Fuzzy.

 _'Dooolly~~ Reddy is ignoring me!'_

 _'These are really good.'_ Kel commented as she took another nibble of the pokeblock, a little reluctant to eat it whole as she wants to slowly savour the taste of it. ' _Vel really splurges on us this time, I heard that it cost her quite a bit to get these for us.'_

 _'Object identified… Pokeblocks… Calculating estimates based on data downloaded… Estimated cost… 15,000 pokedollars….'_

 _'Is that a lot of… what did humans call it again? Money?'_ Hulk asked Jarvis as he too, chose to savour the treats instead of wolfing down his food like what he usually does.

 _'Yes.'_ Jarvis gave his usual one-word reply when he does not need to do any form of analysis on his part.

 _'Come on Jarvis!'_ Fuzzy squeaked out as he cupped the sides of Jarvis's face with his paws and moved Jarvis's head up, down, left, and right. _'Learn to speak normally!'_

 _'I can help too! I learnt new words!'_ Joy exclaimed as she raised a stubby arm into the air.

 _'At least Jarvis talks to us. Hey Archer, why so quiet?'_

Archer just gave Bigblue a disinterested glance before returning to eating his food.

 _'The cool, quiet type, eh?'_ Lily commented as she takes her own sweet time to enjoy her food.

 _'Can I have a single bite? Please?'_ Kratos asked in an uncharacteristically polite manner.

 _'No. Vel had forbade you three from eating these snacks as your punishment. Your mistakes, not ours. Deal with it.'_ Ness said as she shot down Kratos's plea and munched on her own treats.

' _Ness is right._ ' Rena said as she finished up her meal. ' _You brutes need to learn not to fight every single pokemon you see.'_

 _'BATTLE? ARE WE BATTLING? ARE WE BATTLING? LET'S-'_

' _No, Chill. We aren't. Calm down.'_ Flamel said to Chill as he tries to prevent her from summoning a tsunami from out of nowhere.

' _They look so tasty…_ ' Toothless whispered to himself as he drooled at the sight of the pokeblocks. Snap nodded his head in agreement.

Archer had finished his food by now and moved to walk away.

' _Where are you going?_ ' Hulk asked as Archer started to leave.

 _'Back to guarding Vel_.' Archer replied without even turning his head or slowing his pace, the sound of his metallic footsteps resonating across the area that they are currently at.

' _She is with Steven right now, and Steven is plenty strong. Vel had only left us for like… how long is it again? Jarvis?'_ Hulk said as he too finished his meal together with the rest, much to the dismay of the battle-hungry trio. Vel had given their share to the rest of the team as punishment for the trouble they had caused on the beach earlier.

 _'Calculating time lapsed… five minutes and twenty-seven seconds.'_

 _'Guarding her is my job.'_ Archer replied without missing a beat.

' _You need to learn to relax, buddy_.' Snap said as he draped his short arms around Archer's metal shoulder casually. ' _Relax, have some fun, fight some battles, laugh a little, things like that._ '

' _And then get yourself scolded and punished by Vel to complete the routine_.' Fuzzy added the important part that Snap had purposely omitted.

' _We can all do without the last part_.' Bigblue spoke out as he used his head fin to pinpoint Vel's location. ' _There, Vel is over there and walking over to us right now_.'

"Oh, were the pokeblocks nice?" Vel asked the team as she reappeared with Steven beside her.

' _Very! Can I have some more?_ ' Fuzzy asked as he floated in front of Vel and put on his cutest face.

' _Vel, can I have some too_?' Toothless begged shamelessly with his wings tucked and looked at his trainer with pitiful watery eyes.

 _'What in the name of Arceus are you doing, Toothless? Do you have no pride?_ ' Kratos chided at the sight of his rival's behaviour.

 _'Getting some good food. What is pride when there is good food to be eaten? Food is very important, Kratos.'_

"I guess they enjoyed it." Steven commented from beside her. "My team had loved it too."

Archer stood beside Vel on her other side like her silent bodyguard. He is always following Vel around as long as he is able to. Nobody is complaining, but it seems like he is doing it out of a sense of duty more than a heavy sense of attachment to Vel. He never revealed the reason when asked either. Archer is a very silent and reserved individual that rarely speaks.

"Glad that you guys enjoyed it." Vel said as she patted Fuzzy and ignored Toothless's pitiful looks. She is still mad at the trio for what they did the moment she found out with Rena's help about what had happened back at the beach.

"Your time with the LSDF is almost up, right?"

"Yup, thanks for letting me stay over at your place this entire time, Steven."

"No worries. What do you plan to do after this? I think you have about a week or two to relax before things starts to get hectic for you."

"Vance said that he got accepted by Scott to be a Frontier Brain. The Battle Frontier will be opening in a few days time, so our entire family will be there to watch the opening ceremony and try out some of the facilities as well. I myself want to test my skills at the Battle Factory, just to see the extent of my knowledge and how well I can adapt to different kinds of unfamiliar situations. The Battle Tower sounds fun too, my trio can go all out there if we choose to complete it at the highest difficulty. The other members of my team can try the other facilities and get more battle experience as well."

"Hmm… tell me more after you are done visiting the Battle Frontier. Maybe I will find a day and head down there myself. The facilities sound like fun."

"No one will want to fight you. It will be a guaranteed loss on their part."

"But… But I really want to try out the facilities too…."

I thought I saw rain clouds forming over the top of Steven's head. Did someone use a Rain Dance?

* * *

"You sure you are fine sleeping in that corner? You don't need anything else to make yourself more comfortable or sleep in your pokeball?"

It is a common question that Vel had asked him almost every night before she went to sleep ever since she became his trainer. Archer shook his head, he is fine sleeping the way he does by sitting down in the corner of the room and close his eyes. He had long since gotten used to it way before he had met Vel.

Also, he can better protect her this way.

"Alright, let me know if you change your mind, yeah?"

Archer nodded in acknowledgement as Vel went to lie on her bed, pulling the covers over herself and several members of the team who are small enough to fit on her bed as well. Archer finally decided to close his eyes to get some rest the moment he saw the slow and rhythmic rise and fall of Vel's chest that signalled to him that she had fallen asleep.

Out of all the trainers that he had the chance to work with, Vel had been the kindest.

He was caught by a trainer as a scyther. His first trainer was a Ranger. Unlike Vel, he was an average trainer. It was his dream to help maintain the delicate balance between humans and pokemons. A respectable dream, a dream that he once shared with his first trainer. His first trainer spent more time with the other members of the team than with him, but Archer was fine with it. He is not the type that required much attention from his trainer. The team that he was a part of weren't particularly skilled or strong, but they tried their best in fulfilling their duties.

Then one fine day, it happened.

A human was reported missing in some dense woods and the Rangers were tasked to find the missing human. His trainer found the missing human in the end, but they also found themselves fighting against a large horde of sevipers on their way back. His trainer and the team fought the huge nest of sevipers to buy time for the human to run to safety.

Archer was the only one from the team to survive. He had failed to protect his trainer and he will never forgive himself for it. He had sworn to protect his trainer and his dream. He failed. He had broken his oath.

His deceased trainer has no living relatives left, so the humans who were his trainer's superiors decided to pass him on to another trainer. Archer was sad at the passing of his first trainer, but he also knows that he needs to move on despite the guilt he felt. Life and death are part of a natural cycle that every living being has to go through.

His second trainer was a member of Hoenn's ACE.

His second trainer treated his pokemons more like soldiers than companions. Archer was indifferent to this. His second trainer is decently skilled for a trainer, but he didn't have the time to properly train Archer because he was always so busy. Archer likes the thrill of battle and he doesn't particularly like the blatant favouritism, but he swallowed it down because he is now a pokemon of his second trainer and he now have a duty to help him in any way he can.

He is not going to let what happened to his first trainer befell on his second trainer.

Two moons after he was passed on to the second trainer, Archer's second trainer had stupidly disobeyed orders and overextended himself. Archer was beside him and fought ferociously to protect his second trainer from harm but it was for naught. A gyarados had batted him aside with an Aqua Tail and then proceeded to crunch his second trainer into two before swallowing him whole.

Somehow, Archer survived that bloodbath too. He was the only one from the team who survived the onslaught from the pack of gyarados.

That made the guilt he felt even worse. What kind of pokemon is he if he can't even protect his trainer from harm? What use is he? Why did he even train himself for?

What is his reason for living? To get stronger? For what purpose?

Archer was soon registered as a spare pokemon in the League's collection of pokemon on reserve. It is a group of pokemon that was collected to be passed on to trainers enlisted in the League's forces if they ever need a new member on their team. Archer was passed on from one trainer to the next and he had grown numb to this arrangement due to how often it happened. Maybe it is due to the hazardous nature of the job that being enlisted in the League's forces entails, but every trainer that he had the chance to work with had all somehow met a grisly end.

It was for this reason that he never bothered to socialise with any other team that he was a part of after that. Why bother? They will soon be dead anyway. Why form emotional attachments when they will soon be forcefully severed? It will just hurt him even more. Every single time when he thought he had found a permanent home his trainer will die on his watch no matter how hard he tried to protect them. So why bother? Why even bother to try at all?

In the end, he will be left alone to pick up the pieces, just like always.

It wasn't long before most of the trainers in the League's forces knew about the 'Cursed Scyther'. Close to no one wants to pick him as his companion after knowing his past. Archer didn't blame them. How could he? He had failed to protect each and every of his past trainers. They had died on his watch.

He is useless as a pokemon, both as a fighter and a companion.

Archer lost count on how many moons had passed until Steven picked him up. Archer wasn't sure if Steven is ignorant of his history or if he simply doesn't care, but he managed to help him evolve into a scizor in a short span of a week. Steven had said that he will be giving him away to another trainer and asked if he could help protect her on his behalf. Archer agreed as usual; it has become a normal routine for him by now. He gave the same oath to Steven that he had broken dozens of times, that he will try his best to protect his new trainer that he will be given to.

Will his evolution help him to protect his next trainer? Archer doesn't know, but he hopes it will be the case.

His new trainer is the smallest and youngest trainer he had ever worked with. She is someone who is full of love, someone that a pokemon like him will never deserve.

He doesn't want to be under the command of this trainer. He doesn't want his curse to work its magic and harm his new trainer. He doesn't want a human as wonderful as Velda to die.

Still, it is what it is. Velda is his trainer now and he will serve her until his dying breath. Or her dying breath, depending on who croaks first.

Velda even gave him a unique name to call his own. She is the first trainer to give him a name.

Archer, that is his new name. According to Vel, Archer shares the same name with a fictional character who was a hero, even if it the character is a hero with many flaws and had gotten himself lost along the way after experiencing many setbacks. Still, Vel had said that she had admired the hero's initial determination before he had gotten himself lost on his path.

However, Vel had also said that the main reason she named him as Archer is also because both him and the fictional hero are covered in red from top to bottom and that they also both shared the same 'cooler than thou' attitude.

For once, Archer can actually feel his mouth twitching in irritation. Is that how his new trainer name her pokemons? Really? Cooler than thou attitude? What was that? Is that a compliment or a jab at him?

At least he can take consolation at the fact that he didn't have a name as bad as _Toothless_. Did she even see how sharp Toothless's fangs are? Who even names a gigantic fire-breathing lizard capable of destroying mountains with such a harmless and cutesy name?

His new trainer, that's who.

Despite her questionable naming sense, Archer cannot deny that Vel cares a lot about him and the entire team. It is the most care and concern he had felt in a long time. He still does not want to socialise with the team, because he is afraid that his greatest fear will come true. He doesn't want to finally make friends only to have them be taken from him again.

To stop his greatest fear from turning into reality, there's only one thing he can do. He will see to its completion even at the cost of his life. Maybe he can finally redeem himself.

Vel had named him after a hero whose initial dream was to protect the whole of mankind. Protecting the whole of mankind is too big a task for a scizor like him, but he can try his best to protect just one human.

He will protect Velda, no matter what it takes. This time, he will no longer let his trainer die under his protection. Velda will be the last trainer that he will work under and she will live to a ripe old age if he has any say in this matter.

After all, Vel had named him after a hero. A hero never goes back on his oath. Velda had promised him to do her best to take care of him as her trainer, he will give her a silent promise in return.

Velda will live, that is his promise to her as her pokemon.

* * *

 **AN: I wanted to carry on writing from here and introduce the Battle Frontier, but after writing Archer's history, I think the mood of this chapter is a little too solemn (?) to introduce something as fancy as the Battle Frontier. I think I might stick to writing short chapters in the meantime since I really don't have much time on my hands. The story's progression is also a little slow these few chapters, but I think it is necessary for character development. I will see how it goes.**

 **Not sure how you guys will feel in regard to Archer's past, but I think this kind of scenarios is actually very realistic and within the realms of possibility. I did mention a long time ago in IJWTTTW that the League had numerous pokemons on hand that they give to the trainers under the League's forces who needs them. I don't think it is a far stretch to imagine that some of them might have belonged to other trainers at some point, including deceased ones.**

 **In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I will try to bring the Battle Frontier arc as soon as possible. Not sure how long that will be, but it probably shouldn't be too long. I think.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**


	37. Chapter 37- The Battle Frontier

Finally, I'm back home.

Toothless slowed down as he made his descent from the sky with me on his back. Snap followed his actions from where he is flying beside me. Fuzzy made himself comfortable from where he stuck himself in the side pocket of my bag. It was just big enough for him to fit himself in. I had completed my stay with Lilycove's LSDF and it is time for me to head back home.

We landed at the front of my house and I jumped down from Toothless's back. I haven't made two steps towards the front door when a black speck in the sky came flying towards us at a very high speed. Toothless growled for a second, but he suddenly stopped and made a confused tilt of his head instead.

The black speck crash landed near us and a big, black blur hastily made its way towards me and pulled me into its embrace. A humongous hydreigon nuzzled its three heads against mine, which is an unbelievable sight due to the fact that its species is extremely violent and volatile to everyone, including their trainers.

If Snap and Toothless made no moves to stop this hydreigon, it means that this hydreigon can only be him.

"Chewy? Is that you?"

The hydreigon purred in response and cuddled me. Why didn't Dad tell me that Chewy had evolved while I was away?

"Welcome back, Vel."

Dad greeted me as he opened and walked through the front door of the house with Fang beside him. Fang ran up to me and demanded a pat on his head, which I obliged.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me that Chewy evolved? And when did that happen?"

"It was on the night when I was supposed to send Chill to you. Remember how I suddenly told you that I have to send her to you in the morning on the next day instead? I had to delay sending Chill to you since Chewy was so close to evolving and I had to help him. We wanted to keep his evolution as a surprise for you, but I guess Chewy misses you too much to sit still when he sensed your presence."

Chewy gave another happy purr at Dad's words and then turned his attention to Toothless and Snap, who already seemed eager to battle Chewy.

"Toothless, Snap. No."

The two of them deflated at my words and Toothless even gave a little whine.

"We will be heading to the Battle Frontier in a few days, save your strength until then. You will be battling till you drop. If you two like battling so much, I am going to put the whole lot of you through the hardest challenges I can find."

The difference in their posture was immediate. Snap had perked up and made flapping noises with his wings that also produces the singing sound that their species is famous for. Toothless shot a cone of fire into the air in excitement.

"I am excited to visit the Battle Frontier as well." Dad admitted as he walked up to me and ruffled my hair like what he usually does. He and Mum are the only people who I allow to touch my well-combed hair in this manner. "I also heard that there are double battles in the Battle Tower where trainers can partner up and battle other duos."

I gave a smirk in Dad's direction.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking, Dad?"

Dad returned the same smirk back at me.

"Time to announce to the world how strong we Veras are. Should we set an unbeatable record?"

"We totally need to do that." I agreed as we both made our way to the farm so that I can release the bigger members of my team and let them relax outside their pokeballs. "We will be the first ones to set a record and then the record will stay there as the highest score for at least the next decade."

"I'm free now, want to train together?"

I nodded my head in excitement. I had never fought alongside Dad before and I really want to see how strong his pokemons are right now, especially Fang and tropius, since I had known them as a baby and yet I have never seen them in true combat.

"Let's go then."

Time to rock the Battle Frontier.

* * *

"Ness, Poison Fang!"

Ness gave a roar before she charged right through the opposing quagsire's Muddy Water and bit down on it with her poisonous fangs.

"Fang, Hyper Beam!"

Fang shot a Hyper Beam that is aimed slightly away from Ness. Ness released the poor quagsire from her jaws and threw it in the way of Fang's Hyper Beam. The Hyper Beam collided with the quagsire and blew it to the other end of the arena, taking it out.

"Finish the mightyena while it recharges! Magical Leaf!"

The opposing mismagius scattered a huge amount of strangely coloured leaves at Fang, but Ness dove in and unleashed an Incinerate, burning the attack down. Mismagius made itself intangible and then dove into the shadows when Ness counterattacked with a huge barrage of Poison Stings.

"Fang, Odor Sleuth! Seek it out!"

Nice thinking, Dad. Now we have a lot more options in dealing with this ghost.

Mismagius was forced out of hiding from Fang's Odor Sleuth and is now forced to actively dodge Fang's onslaught of slashes and bites.

"Fang, Scary Face!"

"Ness, Shadow Claw!"

Mismagius slowed for a moment when Fang hamper its speed with Scary Face, allowing Ness to slash at it with a Shadow Claw, taking it out.

Two more pokemons left from the opposing duo.

A starmie appeared for battle next and I recalled Ness. Ness can handle any water or psychic types, but the whole point of experiencing the Battle Frontier is to allow the newer members of my team to get more battle experience and satisfying the battlelust of the battle-hungry quartet. The other members of the team need to fight their fair share of battles too.

It didn't take long for Chill to officially join the trio, making the trio a quartet. My hair is definitely going to go grey even before I hit fifteen.

Dad and I are on our fifth set of battles. Each set consists of seven rounds of battles and we can choose to take a break or continue with the challenge at the end of every set. If we chose to take a break, our score will be saved in the Battle Frontier's database so that we can pick up where we left off the previous time. Basically, the way it works is similar to how it works in Pokemon Emerald when the world of pokemon was a game to me.

The Salon Maiden, Anabel, will not appear in the double battles segment, but that does not make the Battle Tower experience any less fun. My quartet had their fill in the first three sets, now I am using this chance to let my newer members get more experience in competitive battling.

The other pokemon that appeared together with starmie is an exeggutor, which immediately used a Sunny Day and spam Solar Beams at Fang, who hid himself with a Double Team as I sent out Archer to replace Ness.

"Bug Buzz!"

The super effective move hit the two psychic pokemons as Dad used this time to recall Fang and sent out the glalie which I had caught for him. His name is now Frosty. Dad had asked me to help think of a name for glalie and this name was what I had thought up for him.

 _Frosssty, the snowman! Was a jolly happy soul~_

Definitely a jab at glalie's permanent grumpy attitude.

Frosty aimed a Freeze-Dry at starmie, who managed to use a Reflect Type in time to block the damage from the otherwise super effective move by converting its typing to the same as Frosty's. However, Archer is a steel type.

"Archer, Bullet Punch and Steel Wing on starmie!"

Archer shot forward and smashed starmie with his pincers. Since starmie is now an ice type due to its use of Reflect Type to mimic Frosty's ice typing, Archer's steel type moves are now super effective against it.

Archer wasn't done, and his wings glowed briefly before he used it to try and slam it into starmie, who had now resorted to using Minimize to momentarily shrink itself in size and to make its escape.

A miniature starmie is actually kind of cute.

Exeggutor uses a combination of Barrage and Egg Bomb and began its artillery strike on Archer and Frosty. Frosty used a Weather Ball, an attack which changes its typing based on the weather condition. Since exeggutor had kindly used a Sunny Day earlier, Weather Ball is now a fire type attack which can deal extra damage to exeggutor, a part grass type.

Frosty destroyed a portion of exeggutor's Barrage and Egg Bomb combo with that Weather Ball. Archer, on the other hand, simply ignored the damage as he powered up with Iron Defense and Swords Dance before dashing right in, planning to bring the fight up close to his foes.

"Don't let the scizor get close! Scald!"

The starmie shot a stream of scalding hot water at Archer, who used a Safeguard to protect himself and Frosty from potential status ailments for the duration of this battle and then dodged the Scald with a well-timed Double Team. A burst of speed from his Quick Attack brought him close to exeggutor before he connected an attack on it in the form of an X-Scissor.

"Synthesis!"

In response, Dad wasted no time as he commanded Frosty to sabotage exeggutor's attempt to heal.

"Frosty, Hail! Then Blizzard!"

Exeggutor defended itself from the Blizzard with Light Screen. However, with the use of Hail, the sunlight is now blocked out and the amount of health exeggutor can heal back up with Synthesis is drastically reduced. Archer is not as affected as the opposing pokemons in this weather condition, so it's fine.

"Archer, don't let up! Fury Cutter!"

Archer pressed on his attacks on exeggutor with Fury Cutter, who is now frantically trying to defend itself from Archer. Starmie tried to intervene but Frosty was a step ahead and smashed into it with an Iron Head.

"Sheer Cold!"

A blast of absolute-zero wave of coldness froze starmie in an instant, taking it out. Starmie was too close to Frosty, allowing Frosty to have the chance to ensure that his one-hit-KO move connects onto it. At the same time, Archer got a powerful slash of his Fury Cutter onto the exeggutor and finished it off with an overpowered Night Slash that was boosted by his prior Swords Dance.

Our fifth set done and dusted. I think we are the record holders for the fastest sweep thus far in the double battle segment of the Battle Tower. My quartet had helped a lot in this regard since they are stronger than most pokemons we encountered here. Chewy's strength is nothing to scoff at either.

Dad is also an extremely skilled trainer. Fighting alongside him is tremendously fun as well.

"Good job, Archer." I praised my scizor as he walked back to me with his signature poker face. I can never tell what he is thinking. Frosty floated back to Dad's side, completely ignoring me. I think he is still a little grumpy at how I captured him.

"You think your Mum and Flannery are done with shopping by now?"

"They should be." I commented as we both walked out of the arena with our pokemons at our side. Each trainer is only allowed to have one pokemon to be at their side the moment they enter any of the facilities in the Battle Frontier and they cannot exceed a certain size. This is to ensure that the place will not be exceedingly crowded. This is the first week of the Battle Frontier's grand opening, which took place yesterday. With Scott's approval Vance had gotten us a free three-day-two-night stay in one of the best hotels in the Battle Frontier since he is also a fellow Frontier Brain. Scott is grateful to us for giving him a huge discount when he bought the pokemons from our farm and so he gave each of us a personal Battle Frontier VIP membership card that lasts for a lifetime. Even Mum got one of it even if she isn't a trainer.

We spotted Mum and Flannery waiting at the lobby with Holly and Charlie, Flannery's torkoal and starter, at their side. Mum gestured for us to come to her side excitedly the moment she spotted us.

"We need to try this."

Mum shoved a brochure into Dad's hands and we took a look at what gotten Mum so excited.

"You want to try the Battle Pyramid?"

"Of course! I asked around when I was shopping and the trainers who had tried it out all had good things to say, we should try it out as a family!"

Why not? Nothing can go wrong while we are at the Battle Frontier anyway.

* * *

"Trust me, it is that way, my instinct that I retained from my ACE days is telling me so."

"Dear, it is definitely _this_ way." Mum argued back as she pointed in the opposite direction that Dad is trying to bring us to.

This Battle Frontier is a little different from what I remembered about from Pokemon Emerald. Maybe it is because this is no longer a world from the games, but there are commercial elements in each facility that wasn't there when I played Pokemon Emerald in my previous world.

For each of the facilities, there are family-friendly segments and challenges that anyone can take part in as a group so long as they have pokemons with them. The one we are currently taking part in is the Battle Pyramid's version, where we are thrown into a dark maze and only allowed to use one pokemon each to find our way out. We are allowed to keep the rest of our teams with us, but they are not to be released in the maze unless we want to get ourselves disqualified. Since this is supposed to be family-friendly, we will also not be running into any pokemons here that will challenge us on sight.

Ignoring the strategic importance of the Battle Frontier to Hoenn's military strength, the Battle Frontier is also basically the pokemon's world version of the Universal Studios, created and tailored to the needs of trainers with how it is designed.

The opening of the Battle Frontier had also opened up a lot of jobs for Hoenn's trainers. Although we can also fight with fellow visitors in the various facilities, there are times where there may not be enough visitors or there is an uneven number of them. That is where the trainers employed by the Battle Frontier will step in to fill the vacant slots so that the visitors can have their fun. Basically, the Battle Frontier is taking the gym trainers system used in pokemon gyms and employing it here. Many of the employed trainers are part-timers who decided to take a break from competing in the gym circuit for a short while to improve themselves, like what I did in Petalburg even if another reason for it was the untimely relapse of my illness. There are full-timers too, and usually they will take part in the more difficult challenges.

I have to give it to President Lucas and Scott. The setting up of the Battle Frontier had increased the region's military strength by creating a bastion in the southern region of Hoenn. It also brought in economic benefits by creating a pokemon world version of Universal Studios and it is also a place where Hoenn's trainers can come to improve their skills and exchange ideas with each other. Hoenn can greatly benefit from this. Other than many Hoenn civilians who had flocked here to enjoy themselves here at the Battle Frontier with the many civilian-friendly challenges available for them, the Battle Frontier had also attracted many trainers from other regions, boosting Hoenn's revenue from the tourism sector.

Dolly gave a cackle as she emerged from my shadow. She loves the dark, so I decided to let her have some fun exploring the maze with us. Mum has Holly by her side and Fang is Dad's choice for the Battle Pyramid. Flannery had chosen her houndoom, Gavin, to accompany her.

"Vel, Flan, help me knock some sense into your father and tell him that he is going the wrong way."

"Vel and Flan will obviously agree with me. They are trainers, so their skills in navigation will agree with mine."

Actually, my pokemons are doing the navigating most of the time. My only job is to ensure that we are heading in the correct generic direction and they handle the rest. I have a few members on my team whose abilities makes them very good navigators and trackers.

"Dolly, which way is out?"

Dolly pointed her short arms in the same direction that Mum is pointing at.

Mum: 1, Dad: 0

Dad gave me a look of betrayal and turned to his long-time partner and starter.

"Fang, tell them that they are wrong."

Fang let his tongue loll out from where he is sitting on the ground and slowly raised a single front paw.

He is also pointing in the same direction Mum is pointing at.

Mum: 2, Dad: 0

Dad then turned to Flannery, who gave an apologetic shrug when Gavin mimicked Fang's action and confirmed that Mum was indeed right.

Mum: 3, Dad: 0

"See?" Mum said with a smug smile as she basked in her victory. "Everyone here agrees with me."

"Traitors." Dad mumbled under his breath as he gave in and let Mum take the lead in trying to navigate ourselves out of the maze. There are obstacles that can only be overcome if you have pokemons with you. They are not difficult for us since Dad and I are Elite trainers and Mum does have Holly, a fully evolved pokemon. Flannery is also a gym leader. However, the challenges are not that simple either. The balance in the level of difficulty for this challenge is just nice.

"What facilities do you want to try out next?"

I stroked my chin in thought at Mum's question. Truth to be told, I am dying to try out a certain facility.

"The Battle Factory. I want to see how well I can adapt to using foreign or unfamiliar pokemons. It will be a great test of the knowledge I had accumulated thus far."

"Your quartet won't be happy about that since they won't be battling."

"I can deposit them in the Battle Palace. The whole idea of the Battle Palace is to let the pokemons battle without taking commands from their trainer, so I don't need to be physically there. Vance is the Frontier Brain in charge of that facility, so I know he will help me keep an eye out for them."

Spenser, the previous gym leader of Mossdeep in this world and the Palace Maven in the original Battle Frontier, had declined to be recruited by Scott due to his old age and also because Scott has an alternative candidate in the form of Vance. Thus, Vance is now the Palace Maven. Scott seemed very happy at Vance's addition to the Frontier Brains even if he was a little disappointed at Spenser's reply.

Despite his old age, Spenser is a very wise man and an even wicked battler. Back in his prime, there was a period of time when the Magmas and Aquas were very active and he single-handedly crushed them when they tried to spread their influence into Mossdeep. The terrorists made their escape before Spenser could flush them out and wipe them out for good, but they never reappeared in Mossdeep again. This held true even after Spenser's retirement and Tate and Liza took up the mantle of Mossdeep's gym leaders.

I really do want to meet Spenser though. He is a Generalist like me and he has experience in spades. I can probably learn a lot just by shadowing him, if he lets me.

Vance got the easiest job out of the seven Frontier Brains. All he has to do if any challengers reached him is to let his pokemons run wild. He can literally take a tea break at the side as his team battle for him. He can very literally do _nothing_ , and still get paid for it.

On a more serious note, it takes a lot of skill and effort for a trainer to train their pokemons to the point where they don't need to take commands from their trainer during their battles. There are many cases of pokemons who lost all sense of direction in battle the moment their trainers stopped barking orders to them. The pokemons that were trained in such a way are too overly reliant on the orders from their trainers, which is not a good thing most of the time. Humans are not pokemons, we do not have the same physical capabilities to be able to make judgement calls faster than a Quick Attack. In the higher levels of battling, pokemons have to make their own decisions most of the time since their trainers will not be able to keep up with the pace even with their eyes glued to the battle.

We are only human and we have our own physical restrictions.

This is also the reason why some of the older generation of trainers claim that a mark of a skilled trainer is one whose team is able to fight effectively even without he or she commanding them. Vance definitely falls under this category. His experience in ACE had made him decide a long time ago to train his team in this direction. Each of his pokemons are able to handle themselves without him being there.

His achievement in this area is also something that I am striving towards. My trio had definitely reached this level of power and skill. Chill is out of the question since her judgement in battles can be a little questionable. Her battle style is actually very similar to Kratos since all she does is to overwhelm her foes with an unstoppable force. She will face problems if her opponents are on par or stronger than her. Kratos knows how to handle himself even in that kind of disadvantageous scenarios, but not Chill. She is still a little too inexperienced in this regard.

As for the rest of my team, they just lack the raw power needed even if most of them will reach there soon. Most of them are already very experienced when it comes to fighting on their own without me guiding them.

I need my team to be able to handle themselves considering the line of work that I will be joining in about slightly less than two weeks. With the exception of Joy since she is a newborn, the newer members of my team had all reached Elite level, even if they are at the bottom tier of it. That in itself is an achievement since they had only joined me for barely a month. Their progress is exceptional.

This also showed me the difference in growth for different pokemon species. A species that is born for battle do have a faster growth rate when it comes to combat. Taking Fuzzy as an example, he had joined me for a longer period of time, but yet he had not reached Elite level even if I feel that he is close. He is at a bottleneck right now. We will need to search for a way for him to go past the advanced level if we want to make him an Elite level pachirisu.

We will make him the first Elite level pachirisu in existence. We just need to find out how.

* * *

Somehow, it took us two hours before we made our way out of the Battle Pyramid.

I will skip the details, but long story short, Dad's sense of direction really sucks. He tried to take over in leading us out when we reached a crossroad after the little voting session.

He got us lost inside the maze. How did he even track people down when he was in ACE if he is that bad at navigation?

At least Mum, Flannery, and Dolly looked like they had a lot of fun despite the numerous times which we got ourselves lost. I don't really enjoy it that much since my body is starting to tire nearing the end of the duration. I had kept quiet since I don't want to dampen the mood and because I know that I can still hold on. It's just that I will feel a little uncomfortable for a short while after the entire ordeal is over.

If only I have a healthy body.

"Vel? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I reassured Flannery as I sat on a nearby bench that is located at the edge of the Battle Frontier. It is a little out of the way, but the view and the sea breeze is nice enough. "Just let me catch my breath."

"You should have told us if you are feeling unwell. We would have terminated the challenge." Mum chided as she starts to fuss over me.

"Mum, I'm fine, really." I reassured her once more as Dolly sat on my lap and went still. She is probably trying to fool the few passers-by near us that she is a real doll. It is a favourite prank of hers. "Don't let me spoil your fun. I will just wait here until you and Dad are done exploring the place."

"I can keep Vel company." Flannery added as she went to sit down next to me. "I am feeling a little tired too, I didn't get enough sleep last night thanks to work."

After much persuasion on me and Flannery's part, Dad and Mum went to explore the other parts of the Battle Frontier with Holly and Fang following them. Dolly got bored with waiting for people to walk past us, so she randomly clicked on a pokeball on my waist to find someone to play with.

Archer looked very annoyed when he came out, but he didn't do anything else as he went to stand beside me. Dolly tried to get him to play with her but he treated her as if she is invisible, much to her dismay.

"Dolly, don't irritate Archer even further. Not everyone is a born prankster." I called out to her as I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close to me, saving Archer from a headache with how Dolly is trying to get him to play with her.

"Scizors can grow to be really strong." Flannery commented as she looked at Archer with an appraising eye. "Their only true weakness are fire type techniques. Have you found a way to counter that?"

"We tried a few ways. It is still a work in progress but there are some that works, depending on the scenario. Archer just have to grow stronger so that he can have the required power needed to pull off the more advanced defensive manoeuvres I had thought up for him."

"Want to test how good your methods are?" Flannery said in a big grin as Gavin gave a bark of excitement.

"Sure." I replied to Flannery's challenge in a cheeky manner. "We can battle each other all day everyday when you finally become my sis-in-law."

"Stop that, squirt." Flannery gave me a half-hearted swipe at my head, which I dodged with a laugh.

"Hey Flan, what facilities do you want to try out next?"

"Probably the Battle Dome." Flannery crossed her arms in thought. "Or maybe the Battle Arena. Those two appeals to me more than the other facilities, so I guess-"

Flannery's words were interrupted when Archer suddenly glowed a metallic shine with Iron Defense and stood in front of us protectively. Dolly immediately dashed out from my arms and flew upwards while charging up a huge Shadow Ball before flinging it in a certain direction at the sky. Gavin followed Dolly's example as he shot one of the biggest Flamethrower I had ever seen in the same direction as well. Their attacks collided with something up in the sky that I couldn't see in a fiery explosion.

"Dolly? Archer? What's-"

"Vel, get down!"

 **BOOM!**

* * *

Flannery winced when her back impacted against the cold, hard ground. She had pushed Vel down and used her own body to cushion their fall the moment she spotted a huge ball of fire coming their way.

That is no pokemon attack. That was a **_bomb_** , bombs are raining down from the sky and there's too many of them to destroy them all before they land on the ground. Not only that, their area is not the only one that is engulfed in explosions. Someone is trying to stage an attack on the newly opened Battle Frontier.

But **WHO**?!

Flannery looked up and saw Velda's scizor standing in front of them, guarding them from any stray explosions as he fired concentrated blasts of Air Slashes, Razor Winds, Silver Winds, and even Vacuum Waves to destroy any incoming blasts of fire and tanked hits for them that he could not deflect. If it wasn't for Archer, they might both be severely injured from the initial surprise attack.

There are numerous psychic shields that were deployed around the Battle Frontier and the alarms are blaring at full blast. Flannery can make out numerous psychics teleporting around the place and bringing more psychics with them with each trip. The psychics are shielding the crowd with their powers and pulling the helpless bystanders out of the danger zone.

So this is how the Battle Frontier had planned to defend itself in cases of emergencies. Flannery can only hope that the number of casualties will be reduced to a minimum with how swift the Battle Frontier's psychics had responded to the sudden threat.

Flannery shifted herself to sit upright and gently lifted Velda from her body, only to find that Velda had been knocked unconscious from the sudden force of the initial explosion.

"Vel? Vel! Wake up!"

Flannery shake Velda worriedly, hoping that she had not gotten herself injured somehow. Velda wasn't feeling too well after exiting the Battle Pyramid. She should have paid more attention to her when they were in that maze.

Gavin had returned to guarding them with Dolly as they aid Archer to defend their trainers. Flannery and Velda are a little too isolated from where most of the crowd is, making it hard for psychics to help them since their priority is to save the majority of the crowd at another area. They are already having their hands full trying to keep everyone alive.

"Everyone, come out! Gavin! Seek the enemies out!"

The appearance of Flannery's main team immediately turned the situation around as the fire types charged through the explosions, their fire typing making them naturally resistant to fire-based attacks. Her camerupt (Mark), Magcargo (Mitch), and Flareon (Serene) stood by her in a protective manner as the rest of her team went in for the assault. Sarah, her charizard, had took to the air with Al, her infernape, riding on her back. Her starter, Charlie, led the rest of them as they took out the bombs that are currently exploding or have not yet explode. Gavin's and Dash's (her arcanine) Flash Fire ability are able to mitigate the fire from the explosions and they are capable enough to defend themselves from the force of the explosions.

Flannery immediately tap on the release button of every single one of Velda's pokeballs which holds her team. Velda needs all the protection she can get.

"Everyone, I don't know who is doing this, but you guys need to help protect Vel. I am not confident enough to protect her while she is unconscious and trying to figure out who is staging an attack at the same time. Is someone able to wake her up?"

Joy immediately jumped and landed beside her trainer. A wave of its little arms produced a soothing scent from somewhere and Velda began to stir.

Flannery's eyes widened a little as she recognised that move. Aromatherapy, a move that heals all status problems, including forced sleep. The reason for Velda's state of unconsciousness is probably enough to be considered as forced sleep, so Aromatherapy had somehow worked.

"Urgh… Flan? What-"

 **BOOM!**

Flannery instinctively used her body to shield Velda again just as Bigblue and Kratos raised a massive wall of stone to protect the two of them. Thankfully, they are safe.

"I don't know, Vel. I sent out most of my main team to find out what is going on and stop the bombs from doing more damage than they should, but I still don't know what is going on. We need more information."

Just at that moment, the cracking sound of a Teleport can be heard. Griff and Hanna appeared with Holly and Fang. Hanna ran up to them worriedly and enveloped them in a hug the moment she saw them safe and sound.

"Thank Arceus! The two of you are safe!" Hanna breathed out a sigh of relief as she tightened her hold over the two girls.

"We are fine, but we need to get out of here ASAP." Flannery wasted no time in pulling the Veras back into reality. "Do you guys know what is going on?"

"No, we don't. The only thing we know is that although psychics can Teleport within the Battle Frontier with no problems, they cannot Teleport to anywhere outside it. The explosions are also making it too dangerous for us to fly out of here using flying types. Someone is jamming the place so that no one can get out of the Battle Frontier. Communications are down too. Scott and the Frontier Brains have already started on the evacuation plans to ship everyone out by the sea route. The LSDF stationed here are already starting to load as many people as they can on board. It is our only ticket out of here."

"Dad, comms are down?"

"Yes." Griff said as he released his team. "Someone wants to take down the entire Battle Frontier without the outside world knowing. We need to put a stop to this."

"I…" Flannery hesitated before she spoke her mind. "I need to be out there. I am a gym leader; it is my duty-"

"We understand." Hanna said gently as she squeezed Flannery in a tight hug. "Just come back to us safe and sound, alright?"

Flannery returned the hug before pulling away with moisture in her eyes. It has been a long time since an elder had cared for her in this manner that isn't her grandfather.

"I will. Mark, Serene, Mitch. We are joining the rest. Let's go."

Flannery ran into the thick of the chaos with her pokemons guarding her from harm. They are more than capable to defend her. Velda's frame shook a little as she clenched her fist and trying very hard to calm her breathing down.

"Vel. It's alright, we are here. This isn't Lilycove, you are not alone."

Griff's reassuring words managed to calm Velda down. She gave a thankful glance to her father before turning to Jarvis.

"Jarvis, get the comms up again. Once you do, send a message to all the Thirteen Pillars of Hoenn. We need their help. Include the President as well. See if you can do anything about the Teleport issue, we are counting on you. Dolly, get Jarvis to the nearest PC with Shadow Sneak and then get back to us. He needs to gain access to an available network."

Dolly and Jarvis acknowledged their trainer's orders and disappeared into the shadows. Vel got herself lost in thoughts as she commanded Kratos to raise walls of stone to aid the Battle Frontier's psychics who are incapable of learning Teleport and had opted to help defend the civilians by shielding them from the blasts of explosions. Thankfully, the explosions are slowly dying down thanks to Flannery's pokemons.

"Kratos, are you confident in using the Sand Platform?"

Kratos gave a big nod of approval at the sudden question.

"Good. Raise the sands and ship everyone out of here. Bigblue, Snap, and Lily will help out as well with Rock Surf if you need it. We are heading for the harbour."

Kratos gave a defiant roar to the sky as he denied the help from his teammates, confident that he alone is able to complete the task that his trainer had gave him.

The entire area they are at was raised by a platform of sand in matter of seconds. Kratos continue to use his sand to grab every single person in the area he could see in a rough manner and deposited them in a separate platform of sand beside the Veras.

"Kratos, be gentle."

Kratos gave a reluctant grunt but he did as he was told. He really couldn't care less if any humans not related to his trainer live or die, but if his trainer wants to save them, he will do it without complains.

"Thank you!" One of the civilians who were brought to the safety of Kratos's sand thanked the Veras as Kratos began to command the sands and transport the entire group towards the harbour. Any stray explosions that got too near were swiftly handled by the rest of the Veras' pokemons.

"Don't worry about it, it is our job as trainers." Griff replied in a calm tone as the bombs stopped raining from the sky. He took a peek at Velda's direction. She is a little shaken by the sudden turn of events and is no doubt being reminded of the horrible experience she had been through back at Lilycove.

Griff clenched his fist and subtly felt for the pokeball that houses the fifth member of his team, Torch. This pokemon is currently his strongest pokemon and he had kept his existence a secret from everyone except for his wife. He had begun to train it ever since his daughter's sickness got better when she was nine and did not need as much attention. Torch is a total recluse and dislike interacting with humans in general, but he respects him enough to listen to his command. Torch's reclusive nature is the main reason why Griff had decided against introducing him to his children among other factors. Not all pokemons are friendly towards humans even if they are raised in captivity.

If possible, Griff doesn't want to call Torch out at all since he knows Torch doesn't want to have anything to do with humans in general. However, the both of them may not have a choice now. Another invasion in Hoenn is taking place and they _have_ an obligation to stop it.

It is their duty as Veras, one of the most noble and ancient family in Hoenn. It is carved into their family crest and written out in their family's motto and values. His children, Vance and Velda, had in a way taken up this duty even without them realising it the moment they got themselves a regional starter. Torch knows about his duty as well. His species has been with their family even before Hoenn was founded and they too know that they have a duty to Hoenn that they are entrusted with. This same duty was passed down to Torch from his ancestors just as Griff received his from the very first head of the Vera family that was passed down through the generations for more than 500 years.

Every Vera will receive a regional starter, it is a secret tradition of theirs. Griff's father had a sceptile that Vance and Velda never knew about since it decided to live with its species in seclusion in their farm after his trainer passed away when Vance was very young. Vel wasn't born yet at that time and Vance was too young back then to remember about his grandfather's sceptile, so he had always thought that the only pokemon his grandfather had was good old Whiskers, who is a constant presence in their lives until he too passed away from old age.

It is every Vera's duty to protect Hoenn in their own way and the regional starters know this. Torch knows this. Vance's sceptile knows this. Bigblue knows this. The three pokemons were all taught about their duties from their parents the moment they are all old enough to learn. Each of the three species are entrusted with a duty that they will fulfil no matter which trainer they are given to. Given the current state of the world, Griff might have to reveal the true duty of the Vera family towards Hoenn to his children soon, although he wishes that they never knew. It is a heavy burden to bear.

Griff mentally prepared himself for the upcoming fight. Whoever is staging this attack will pay.

He swears upon this as a member of the Vera house.

* * *

 **Edited: 1/6/2019**

 **I only just realised when reading this chapter on my phone that Ness taking mismagius out with Drill Run is impossible since mismagius's only ability is Levitate. I changed Ness's attack to Shadow Claw for this revision. I also changed Chewy's species from zweilous to hydreigon after one of you had kindly pointed out what I had missed.**

 **Content-wise, there's no change in this chapter. Just letting you guys know that I had corrected some mistakes in this chapter that shouldn't have been made.**

* * *

 **AN: Hope you guys didn't get a heart attack from reading about another invasion, but it is what I had planned a long time ago after I finished writing the Sootopolis gym challenge. This chapter isn't that exciting in my opinion and is a little bland, but I think it will help pave the way for subsequent chapters.**

 **Also, I think you guys know by now what Griff's secret fifth member is. I gave too many clues. If you somehow don't get what that pokemon is, don't worry. It will be making its appearance soon.**

 **I have to admit I was initially planning to write and finish up the half-done chapter for my other story, WOTI. But when I happen to read one particular not-so-polite review on IJWTTTW that _demanded_ me to focus on TAOFT and WOTI, I suddenly found myself having a lot of motivation and inspiration to write something for IJWTTTW. So, here it is.**

 **I won't say anything else about this chapter since I want to keep the suspense for the next chapter. So stay tune. I _should_ be able to get it out within a day or two, provided nothing unexpected pops out from nowhere.**

 **As usual, hope you guys enjoy the story.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Hydreigon (Chewy), male**

 **4) Glalie (Frosty), male**

 **5) ? (Torch), male**

 **5) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **6) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **7) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **8) Ursaring (deceased)**

 **Flannery, Age: 21, Female, Lavaridge Town Gym Leader, Ex LSDF Member**

 **1) Torkoal (Charlie)**

 **2) Charizard (Sarah)**

 **3) Houndoom (Gavin)**

 **4) Camerupt (Mark)**

 **5) Magcargo** **(Mitch)**

 **6) Flareon (Serene)**

 **7) Infernape (Al)**

 **8) Arcanine (Dash)**

 **9) Chandelure (Lighter)**


	38. Chapter 38- With Style

The harbour itself is a chaotic battlefield.

I left the civilians that our family had picked up to the LSDF and let the officers direct the civilians to safety. The LSDF are doing all they can to create a sense of order. The women and the children are given priority to board the ships and get out of here. The trainers employed by the Battle Frontier are also doing their best in defending the crowd from attacks from feral pokemons of various types together with the officers from the LSDF.

"Dad! Mum! Vel!"

Vance ran up to us and grabbed us in a hug.

"Thank Arceus! You are alright!" Vance muttered before letting us go, pulling Mum and I along. "Mum, Vel, you two need to get out of here right now! It's too dangerous here!"

"Vance, we can wait." Dad interrupted Vance as he put a hand on Vance's shoulder. "The civilians need to go first. We can at least defend ourselves."

"Dad!"

"We are the Veras, Vance." Dad cut in before Vance can protest any further. "We have a duty to protect Hoenn."

"Griff? Is that you?"

A bald and elderly man walked up to us with the help of his walking stick. A crobat hovered by his side without making a sound.

"Master Spenser? You are here too?"

"Scott gave me a free ticket here since we hit it off pretty well." I watched as the previous Mossdeep gym leader chatted with us as if a war isn't happening in the background. "Nice guy, that one. I was enjoying myself at the Battle Palace too, then **_this_** happened."

A slaking destroyed a nest of angry sevipers while he was talking before making its way back to Spenser. From what I know, Spenser's slaking was pretty famous back in his heydays, but Norman's slaking is probably stronger since training the slaking line is Norman's specialty.

"Vance, Vel, this is Spenser, my mentor. He taught me many things during my gym circuit, although I wish we can all meet under better circumstances."

I nodded my head politely in acknowledgement although my thoughts are elsewhere. Who is staging this attack? And why? Is there something in the Battle Frontier that cannot be found elsewhere?

"MAGMAS! IT'S THE MAGMAS! EVERYONE LOOK OUT! THEY ARE COMING FROM BEHIND US!"

"THE AQUAS TOO! THEY ARE COMING FROM THE SEA! MAGMAS AND AQUAS ARE COMING FROM TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS!"

The shouting got everyone on immediate alert as submarines suddenly appeared from the sea not too far from where the harbour is. Packs of sharpedos and gyarados emerged and started to make their way towards the harbour.

They are trying to kill everyone on the ships. By taking out the ships, no one can escape. We will all be trapped here.

"CHILL! STOP THE AQUAS! PROTECT THE SHIPS!"

All hints of her playfulness vanished as Chill jumped down from the edge of the Battle Frontier and landed on the sea with a huge splash. A massive wave of Surf rose and pushed a huge number of the Aquas' pokemons back.

At least she is sensible enough to recognise the severity of our circumstances, she is not fooling around as she usually does.

"Nice lapras, pretty well-trained too." Spenser complimented calmly as he retrieved a pokeball and threw it in Chill's direction. "Let's join forces, it will be easier this way."

Spenser's lapras made its appearance known as it immediately call upon a raging snowstorm, freezing the gyarados into ice. Our lapras went to defend the ships as per our orders together with other water types that some of the other trainers had released to help in defending our only means of escape.

"From our back! The Magmas!" One of the Frontier Brains, who I recognised to be Pike Queen Lucy, shouted out from where she is trying to defend the crowd at the opposite end from where we are.

"I'm on it! Tucker!"

"Got it!"

Vance ran to the frontlines and blew a whistle. Immediately, his pokemons who were stationed around the perimeter regrouped around him. Vance jumped onto his salamence, who began to fly up into the sky with his metagross. I see Tucker (who is now dressed in that outrageous outfit I remember from the games) joining him in the sky as well with his own salamence and metagross.

" **DRACO METEOR**!"

Vance's and Tucker's salamence unleashed the first big salvo at the approaching group of magmas. Some of the magmas were taken out, but most of them had actually managed to defend themselves from the attack and continued their charge.

"Kratos! Snap! Toothless! Help Vance!"

"Chewy, you too."

Our four pokemons immediately charged into battle and aided the two Frontier Brains in decimating our enemies. My trio fought with a vicious streak that I hadn't seen since the Lilycove invasion. None of us enjoyed that particular experience. Seeing another invasion happening right in front of us had made them extremely angry.

They may be bloodthirsty, but even they do not like senseless violence.

I quickly ran through my mind the various possible reasons on why the magmas and aquas will want to combine forces to invade the Battle Frontier. Just what is so enticing to them that they are willing to stage a full-blown assault? What does the Battle Frontier have that other places don't?

Why _here_?

 _'Mistress, another group of these heinous villains are heading towards the west of this island out of our sight.'_

I looked towards the west of the Battle Frontier and spotted the Battle Factory. It is the facility that is situated at the far end of this island at the west side.

 ** _That's it._**

"DAD!" I immediately shouted and pulled on his shirt to grab his immediate attention. "The magmas and aquas are after the large number of pokemons here! They are trying to rebuild their forces by stealing the pokemons from the Battle Factory! This whole attack is a smokescreen to lure our attention away from there!"

"WHAT?!" Scott yelled out as he suddenly appeared near us out of nowhere. "HOW DARE THEY!"

It is a common practice for terrorist groups to steal pokemons from trainers and then break them down mentally. The pokemons usually will be left as nothing but an obedient yet broken tool with a mentality of destroying everything around them once the process is over. It is how the magmas and aquas build up their strength and I am willing to bet the various villainous groups around the world uses the same process as well.

The aquas and magmas have suffered a severe blow after their main forces were wiped out a few months back. If they could get their hands on a large number of pokemons from somewhere, they can easily rebuild their strength.

They can make a comeback and terrorise Hoenn once more.

They could have just aim for our farm as well, but our farm has been there in Petalburg in the last 500 years and no one had succeeded in stealing our pokemons and get away with it. Our defences and security are just that good. The Battle Frontier, on the other hand, is newly opened. There are bound to be security gaps that had not been found. The magmas and aquas are exploiting this fact.

Scott immediately tried to dial Noland's number, but any form of telecommunication is still down. Jarvis must be trying his best, but he needs to settle this issue fast before things take a turn for the worst.

"I cannot contact Noland! He hasn't appeared yet too, he may need help!"

Scott turned around towards his Frontier Brains, but all of them are busy trying to defend the crowd together with LSDF officers and other trainers who had volunteered to help. We are seriously lacking in terms of manpower. There are too many civilians to protect and we do not have enough trainers right here at the harbour. There are many others who are still scattered haphazardly around the entire island and we don't know where they are. Through Rena's telepathic link, Flannery had told us that she will be looking for any survivors and help bring them to safety at the harbour while taking care of any magmas and aquas she met along the way. This situation is also too chaotic to properly organise the trainers so that we can fight in a more effective manner. Some of the trainers have to board the ships as well to protect the passengers just in case the aquas gave chase to the departing ships. The first wave of ships had begun to sail out of the Battle Frontier while our water types defend the harbour to buy time for the remaining people to board the ships.

Maybe I should have sent Bigblue with Chill to help out, but I have a feeling that I will need him later at other places.

"This old man is better suited to protect the ships from where he is." Spenser added in as he released his entire team. I spot an arcanine, a dusknoir, an azumarill, venasaur, shiftry, blissey, and a claydol on top of his already released slaking, lapras and crobat. They immediately split up to defend the ships and also to fight against the magmas. The aquas and the magmas are trying to take us out in a pincer attack.

"Dad, we need to head to the Battle Factory. Most of the pokemons there were from our farm. We cannot let them fall into the wrong hands."

"I agree." Dad said with a nod. "Let's go together."

"I'm coming too!" Scott said adamantly as he waved his hands in agitation. "There are some places that cannot be accessed unless you are authorised personnel. You guys may need me there."

"I'm not letting the two of you going in alone, I'm coming too." Mum put her foot down as Holly hovered at her side. "Holly is good enough to heal up whoever gets themselves injured later. We won't be a burden."

"BRANDON! WE ARE MOVING TO HELP NOLAND! YOU GUYS TAKE CARE OF THINGS ON THIS SIDE, YEAH?"

Brandon yelled out an affirmative reply to Scott's order from where he is trying to prevent the magmas from getting too close to the harbour. I send an order through Rena to my quartet to continue what they are doing. My trio are strong enough to handle themselves even without my help. Besides, Vance is with them. Chill is with Spenser's lapras and Spenser is taking the lead in helping to defend our ships. Many trainers had recognised the elderly ex-member of Hoenn's Thirteen Pillars on sight and had moved to engage the aquas with Spenser leading the assault. My quartet will be fine.

"Recall back your pokemons and only leave out those we need. Holly cannot Teleport so many at once."

Upon Mum's instruction, I only left Archer and Rena out with me as Dad let Fang remain by his side. A flash of psychic energy later, we are brought to the outside of the Battle Factory, where a large group of magmas and aquas are trying to force their way in through the main doors.

"Bigblue! Lily!"

I released the two best defensive battlers on my team as they immediately raised spikes of stones and killed a number of the unsuspecting terrorists instantly. Dad released tropius, who is now raining his own attacks from the sky to help them out.

The number of magmas and aquas here outside the Battle Factory is large, but also not that big. The three of them should be fine on their own.

 _'Mistress, Bigblue and Lily say that they can handle things here. We need to go if we want to prevent the vile humans from completing their plans.'_

I looked back at Bigblue and Lily, who are now systematically destroying their opposition with practiced ease. The two of them work great together and I sent them out for double battles many times because of it.

I need to have faith in my team. They will be fine. They are strong enough to fight the battles on their own. I had trained them to be capable of doing so.

"Over here! Quick!"

Scott gestured for us to enter through a side door that he had opened with a special access card he has on his person and we all enter it before Scott sealed it shut again. The four of us ran towards the heart of the Battle Factory, where the unmistakable sounds of battles can be heard.

I immediately called out Flamel and Hulk the moment I saw what is happening.

"Flamel! Flare Bitz! Hulk! Body Slam!"

My two pokemons charged through the mass of aquas and magmas who had somehow found their way in from another entrance, giving the trainers trapped in the Battle Factory some breathing space.

"Frosty, Blizzard!"

Frosty froze a group of these terrorists in ice as he joined in the fray the moment Dad released him for battle. Scott went up to one of the trainers who is also employed by the Battle Frontier.

"What happened here? And where's Noland?!"

"He is at the main room trying to prevent the magmas and aquas from stealing the pokemons away! We got separated and trapped here. We do not have enough firepower to help him until you guys came!"

I looked around the room. The space is big enough for pokemons of Hulk's size to fight, but it is also small enough to use a huge AOE attack to its greatest effect. It should be easy enough for Hulk to box everyone in.

"Hulk, Flamel, Furnace combo!"

Hulk immediately raised walls of stones with Stone Edge and box the combined group of magmas and aquas in it. They have nowhere to run. All I need to do now is to give the order.

Flamel gave me an encouraging whinny. We can do this.

I am no longer the helpless girl back at Lilycove who can do nothing but sit by and watch as innocent people and pokemon die around me in a senseless slaughter. I am a lot stronger now. My team is a lot stronger now. We can make a difference.

Even if it is done by staining our hands in blood.

"Flamel, do it."

Flamel heeded my words with a loud cry and unleashed a massive Overheat into the huge box of stone, burning the trapped occupants alive. This is why I named it the Furnace combo. It works in almost the same way a furnace does.

It is a brutal combo to use, but a necessary one that I had invented in case we ever need it.

I can feel Dad giving me a supporting squeeze on my shoulder with his hand. I don't know what Mum thinks about this, but this isn't the time to debate about ethics and morals.

"The lot of you should head for the harbour." Dad said to the group of trainers that we had just saved. "Your pokemons are too worn out and tired to be of much help here. We alone are strong enough to help Noland."

"Just listen to his advice." Scott added when one of the trainers was on the verge of protesting. "Your pokemons are obviously not in a condition to continue battling for any longer."

My mind was still a blur when we finally moved to continue our search for Noland. The interior of the Battle Factory is spacious enough, so I rode on Flamel's back with Mum sitting behind me. I had also released Fuzzy and Kel who are now running alongside us.

 _'This way.'_

We followed Rena's lead as she blasted a door down with a Signal Beam. Hulk immediately charged in and knocked every enemy in sight away with his arms. Rena, Kel, and Fuzzy provided ranged support as we let Hulk rampage, his species is a scary opponent to face in battle if trained right. Especially so in close combat.

"Noland! Are you there?!"

"Scott? Over here!"

Noland waved us over as his mawile stood by his side protectively. My pokemons joined in as we went to regroup with Noland. Noland is typing furiously in front of a huge computer-like thing.

"It's no use! I cannot send the pokemons here out! Someone just brought down our entire network! How?!"

"Why don't we just use the pokemons here to help us instead?" I asked curiously. Having a small army of pokemons on our side will be a great help, so why aren't they doing it?

"If we had more time, we could do it. Due to the nature of the Battle Factory challenge, these pokemons are trained by me to take orders from _anyone_. That includes those bastards if they get their hands on them. I haven't gotten to training them to differentiate between a good human and a bad human and who not to take orders from. I could do it if I have another month or so but we don't have the time. Right now, I don't want to take the risk of the magmas and aquas scums somehow turning our pokemons against us if we use them to battle. These assholes are after the pokemons here, we need to protect them."

I looked at the large number of pokeballs around us. So that's why Noland is in such a pinch. It is a wonder that he managed to hold out for such a long time by himself while defending the pokemons here from the magmas and aquas.

Jarvis, you need to hurry.

The whole of Battle Frontier is counting on you.

* * *

 _[Running through databases 104 through 218… Analysing… All clear]_

 _[Running through databases 219 through 315… Detecting errors… Fixing bugs… Checking for other issues… All clear]_

 _[Running through databases 316 through 452… Source of problem found… Initiating combat plan #156… Analysing foreign entity…]_

Jarvis zipped through the virtual network as he finally found the source of the problem that brought down the whole telecommunication network in the Battle Frontier. Vel had given him an order to fix it as soon as possible and that is what he will do.

 _[Downloading data to combat foreign entity… Unknown entity #1 escaping… Using Agility to prevent escape… Analysing unknown entity #1 escape pattern… Solution derived: Lock-On]_

Jarvis used a Lock-On to fix his aim onto the foreign entity that is also able to enter the cyberspace like him. He doesn't have actual confirmation yet, but he has a feeling that he knows just what he is facing.

 _[Initiating combat plan #156… Nasty Cannon: Fire]_

Jarvis used a Nasty Plot to increase his offensive power before shooting a massive Zap Cannon at the foreign entity. There is a huge distance between him and the foreign entity in the cyberspace, but such distances between them is meaningless the moment he used a Lock-On.

His Zap Cannon will find its target.

Like he had calculated, Jarvis's Zap Cannon found its mark onto the foreign entity. With that, the telecommunications in the Battle Frontier should be up and working again. Upon getting a closer look, Jarvis realised that his hunch was correct.

Someone had found another of his kind and had used it to hack the Battle Frontier's network.

Jarvis used one of his arms and touched the unconscious porygon 2.

 _[Running diagnostics… Virus found in porygon 2… Installing antivirus programmes into porygon 2… Wiping out all traces of foreign data… Error… Recall earlier action… Download data from porygon 2… Team Magma and Team Aqua Operation Clean Strike… Need to send acquired information back to Vel… Analysing possible actions Vel will want me to take after knowing acquired information… Probability of her commanding me to send it to Thirteen Pillars is at 95.26%... Analysing best candidate to send to… First option: Steven Stone, Second Option: Wallace, Third option: Winona, Fourth option: Norman… Sending to Steven Stone… Sent…]_

Jarvis began to run his diagnostics as he began to send the newly acquired information about Team Aqua and Team Magma he had retrieved from the unconscious porygon 2 to the aforementioned trainers. Steven Stone is the best possible candidate since his location should be nearer to the Battle Frontier geographically, followed by Wallace, Winona, and then Norman. These four supposedly have enough experience in handling a situation as chaotic as this. They will know what to do.

Oh wait, there's Juan too. Sootopolis is nearby, Jarvis will need to send it to him as well.

Actually, that is a foolish idea. Why not just send it to everyone in the Thirteen Pillars? Vel had always said the more the merrier.

 _[Erasing all data from porygon 2… Copying and installing new software… converting porygon 2… New Loyalty: The Battle Frontier…]_

Using his more advanced and sophisticated technological skills available to him instead of porygon 2 thanks to his evolution, Jarvis reprogrammed porygon 2 and changed its loyalty to the Battle Frontier. Their kind were created to help mankind, not to destroy it.

Jarvis felt a foreign feeling swelling through him. Are these emotions? Is this how being able to feel emotions felt like?

If he has to put a word to the feeling that he is experiencing, it would be anger.

He will not allow his kind to be misused.

He is a porygon-z, a species of pokemon invented to help mankind maintain the delicate balance between humans and pokemon and to help explore unchartered territories.

He will make Team Magma and Team Aqua pay for doing the unspeakable to one of his kind. They had forcefully installed a virus into porygon 2 and forced it to do their bidding. This is unacceptable.

 _[Initiating order #2 from Vel… find the reason behind the inability to Teleport outside the Battle Frontier…]_

The reprogrammed porygon 2 had regained consciousness by now after Jarvis gave him a reboot. The porygon 2 used a Recover to heal itself and began to silently aid Jarvis finding the cause that had hamper psychics' ability to Teleport outside the island that they are currently at.

 _[Source found… Checking coordinates… Located outside Battle Frontier… Unable to take it down from the inside… Need external help…]_

With porygon 2's help, Jarvis had managed to find the cause in a much shorter amount of time than expected. Still, the fact that no one can do anything from within the Battle Frontier to help psychics regain their ability to Teleport outside the island is a cause for concern.

What will Vel do?

 _[Analysing possible actions Vel will take… Probability that she will ask for external help since telecommunications are now available is at 80.31%… Best candidate to solve this issue… Analysing Vel's known acquaintances and their respective specialty… Tate and Liza…]_

Jarvis wasted no time in sending the twins a message. The twins will do. They have a deep understanding of what can aid and hamper psychic type techniques. With their psychic pokemons, the gym leaders can come over and help the Battle Frontier immediately.

Vel wants to help protect the world, the same mission and the reason he is created for. He will help her every step of the way.

 _[Analysing best possible spots for external help to Teleport to… 27 locations found… Strike off 9 locations due to collateral damage… 18 locations left… Sending message for help to Hoenn League… Hacking into League's database so that it is easier to broadcast message…Access denied… Finding alternative ways to login to Hoenn League's network… Use ID of Lucas Foster… Password: LFluvHoenn666!... Access granted…Sending message to all seventeen companies of Hoenn ACE…]_

Porygon 2 blinked a reply to Jarvis. Someone had responded to his plea for help.

 _[Message received… Drake: Elite Four member… Glacia: Elite Four member… Sidney: Elite Four member… Phoebe: Elite Four member… Status: Teleporting to Battle Frontier… Estimated time of arrival: 60 seconds at the maximum… Finding best possible spots for Hoenn Elite Four to Teleport to… Sending coordinates of best possible locations based on current known data…]_

The power of the Hoenn Elite Four should be enough for now until more help arrives. And OH! Steven had replied too! So did the twins! And many others that he didn't even know existed! Did he just accidentally mass send a plea for help to the entire Hoenn?

 _Oooops._

If Vel asked, errors do happen sometimes, even for an A.I. as sophisticated as him. He must have tapped into the wrong virtual network by accident.

Wait a minute. It's the porygon 2! The porygon 2 had decided on its own that the best course of action is to get the **_WHOLE_ **of Hoenn involved!

See? It's not his fault now. Of course, it has to be the porygon 2, why will he make such an amateur mistake like tapping into the wrong network? He is a porygon-z. Porygon-Zs will never make such a rookie mistake, that is for newly created porygons.

In any case, someone among the many who responded should know how to enable psychics to Teleport in and out of the Battle Frontier once again.

What else can he do here before he exits the cyberspace with his fellow porygon?

 _[Tracking entry route of Team Magma and Team Aqua… Analysing invasion route… Backtrack the possible ways they could have possibly used to come here… 458 possible outcomes found… Narrowing search results…]_

Vel will not only want to win this battle, she will want to win this war to put down the villains for good. In that case, Jarvis will use his ability to find the den where Team Magma and Team Aqua had made their homes in.

It's time to get rid of the cancerous tumour in Hoenn.

With style.

* * *

 **AN: This feels like a good place to stop for this chapter. I had wanted to write a big battle in, but I guess that can wait for the later chapters.**

 **On a side note, in the previous chapter, I had written that Ness had took out the mismagius with Drill Run, which should be impossible for her since the only ability mismagius have is Levitate. I had changed it to Shadow Claw. One of you had also kindly pointed out that I haven't updated Chewy's status from a zweilous to a hydreigon, so I did that too. The content doesn't change, but I thought that I should let you guys know.**

 **Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Hydreigon (Chewy), male**

 **4) Glalie (Frosty), male**

 **5) ? (Torch), male**

 **5) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **6) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **7) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **8) Ursaring (deceased)**


	39. Chapter 39- Difference

"It's working! The comms are up again!"

Nice one, Jarvis. You are the MVP.

We wasted no time in helping Noland transport the pokemons out to the Hoenn League via the pokeball transfer system while our pokemons stood guard around us in case more magmas and aquas appear.

"Alright, last batch!" Noland said as he wheeled in a trolley of pokeballs. "Let's finish this and then screw those fuckers over!"

"Language, Noland!" Scott berated him as he hit Noland upside the back of his head. "There are kids here!"

"Don't worry, I didn't hear anything." I reassured Noland and Scott, much to Dad's amusement.

"You are Vance's sister, aren't you? We could have been colleagues if you had accepted Scott's offer."

"I supposed so, but it's nice meeting you anyway. Name's Velda, just call me Vel. I wanted to challenge your facility but then this happened."

"Don't sweat it, we can always have our battle later." Noland said good-naturedly as we made small talk while transferring the pokeballs batches by batches to the Hoenn League. The pokemons will be safe there until the mess here has been cleaned up.

"Done!" Noland exclaimed the moment the last pokeball disappeared in a bright flash of light. "Mawile, destroy it!"

Noland's mawile released a massive Flash Cannon and obliterated the computer system in the room, much to our bewilderment.

"I don't know how they hack into our network, but with the hardware destroyed like that, they cannot do anymore damage by accessing the network in the Battle Factory. Computers can be replaced, lives can't."

Should I tell him that Jarvis had probably ensured that everything is alright in regard to everything IT-related and that Noland destroying the computers is a wasted move?

Probably not.

"Let's move out." Dad suggested to the group. "Is there anything else that we need to do here before leaving?"

"No. The Battle Factory is just an empty building now. Let's just go."

Holly's eyes glowed a psychic blue and she immediately brought in Bigblue, tropius, and Lily with Teleport. They look fine, much to my relief.

"Hold on tight, we are returning back to the harbour!"

We braced ourselves for another Teleport ride upon Mum's words and Holly brought us back to the harbour. There are still people waiting to board the ships and the intensity of the battle between the trainers and the terrorists have heightened.

We need help. Badly.

"SOMEONE STOP THAT GYARADOS FROM FIRING A HYPER BEAM! IT IS AIMING FOR THE SHIP!"

We turned around at that shout and saw a ferocious looking gyarados charging a Hyper Beam and sending it blasting towards a ship filled with passengers and halfway out of the harbour.

Damn it! We are too far away to help!

"Ice Beam."

A huge blast of ice intercepted the Hyper Beam before it could reach the ship. A mere second later, that same gyarados got itself frozen completely in ice.

Even Chill cannot manage that. Who saved the ship?

A small team of ice type pokemons emerged from the waters with a lady riding on one of the walreins. Despite how chaotic the battlefield is, she looked extremely calm and collected. In fact, she looks as if she is taking a surfing trip with her pokemons instead of heading straight into a pack of more than twenty gyarados all by herself.

She is crazy, definitely crazy. Who will just charge straight into a pack of enraged gyarados just like that? It's suicide!

"Isn't that Glacia? Glacia of the Elite Four?" Mum asked aloud as she squinted her eyes to get a better look. "Not that I am complaining, but why is she here? She had definitely just arrived."

"Maybe someone called her once the comms are up again?" Noland suggested. "In any case, it seems our little navy army has all the help it needs with Spenser and Glacia there. We need to stop the invasion the magmas had instigated from the land."

We all agreed with Noland's statement. Dad turned to Mum before speaking.

"Hanna, you need to get out of here now. This is not like what we just been through in the Battle Factory, you are not well-equipped for this."

"Griff!"

"Listen to me. Get onto the ship. Now."

"And Vel-"

"She will be with me. She will be fine."

"I will, Mum." I reassured her as I gave her a hug. "Dad and I will return back to you safe and sound. Vance too. We will make sure of it."

"You three better keep your promise." Mum mumbled out with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"Scott, no offense, but you need to make yourself scarce too." Noland added from beside him. "Leave this to us trainers. The seven of us will show them the might of the Frontier Brains."

"Make sure you do. Make them regret for even having the audacity to try and invade the Battle Frontier. I will help to coordinate with the evacuation efforts in the meantime. Stay safe, everyone."

With that, our group separated. I released my entire team out and jumped onto Flamel's back. Dad climbed onto tropius and Noland released a rhyperior.

"I need to go and search for survivors and wipe out the magmas and aquas on the other side of the island. I know for sure that these bastards are there doing whatever. I need to stop them." Noland said to us before we made our move. "Can you two handle yourselves?"

"We can." Dad nodded in affirmation. "Don't worry about us."

Dad and I joined in the fight with our pokemons the moment Noland ran off to another section of the Battle Frontier to do his job as a Frontier Brain. The trio are happy to see us back again the moment they spotted me and increased the intensity of their attacks.

I spot a few trainers among the remaining Frontier Brains. Why are there so few left to defend the harbour?

"Dad! Vel! Why are you guys here?! Get to the ship!"

"You know damn well that we can help!" Dad shot back at Vance as Fang unleashed a massive Dark Pulse that took out a group of aquas. "Why are there so few of you left anyway?"

"Most of them had boarded the ship to get out of here! The ships need some protection too on their journey to who-knows-where!"

"There is no end to this." Anabel, the Salon Maiden, grumbled as her lucario blasted a horde of golems into pieces. "Where are they coming from anyway? They have an entire army of pokemons!"

"Incoming bombs from above! Look out!"

"Kratos! Sand Shield!"

Kratos raised a shield of sand over us and prevented the dropping bombs from blasting us into unrecognisable pieces of meat. It seems that training him to be the pokemon's version of Gaara was the right direction to take. His defensive powers are extremely useful in a battlefield as chaotic as this.

"Nice thinking, Vel!" Tucker shouted as he annihilated a group of crawdaunts on his side. "But we need to do something about their air strike tactic! It's too dangerous to even fly in the sky thanks to the bombs!"

 _'Leave that to us. We will take care of the bombs. Focus on your battles.'_

"Hey, did you guys just heard what I heard in my head?" Greta, the Arena Tycoon asked aloud as her breloom knocked a shiftry away with a well-placed punch. "Or am I hallucinating?"

"I heard it too." Lucy confirmed as her seviper slashed at a pack of zangoose with a swift Poison Tail, bisecting them into two.

"Above us! Look!"

Brandon's shout got us looking up as a fast streak of white light dashed across the sky, taking out all the falling bombs in one fell swoop.

 _'Mistress, it's Steven and his team! They are here!'_

How did Steven reach here in such a short amount of time?!

Despite our noisy chattering, our ragtag group of Frontier Brains and volunteer trainers, who are all definitely Elite level in skill, had managed to put a temporary stop to the horde of pokemons that we were fighting against.

"That's it? This is fishy."

The comment from one of the trainers standing near me got me nodding in agreement at his words. There's no way the magmas and the aquas will retreat so quickly and silently, not after all that they had invested into this invasion.

"INCOMING!"

A huge number of golems, gravelers, geodudes, electrodes, and voltorbs began rolling towards us and gaining speed as they do so. To make things worse, they are starting their roll from a higher elevation towards us, who are at the bottom. They are increasing the speed of their advance with the help of gravity.

"I don't want to think what they can do if all of them uses Explosion at once." Vance muttered his thoughts aloud for everyone to hear. "We need to stop them before they reach their firing range."

"Leave this to me, I have an idea." I cut in as I swiftly commanded my team to get ready. "Bigblue! Kratos! Snap! Ness! Lily! Quicksand!"

The combined efforts of my team immediately turned the ground where the hordes of exploding pokemons are currently at into quicksand, stopping their advance instantly and making them sink lower into the ground.

"Everyone, attack! Take them out!"

The rest of the group did not hesitate and commanded their pokemons to fire their own attacks at the now immobile group of pokemons from afar.

"Incoming Draco Meteor!"

Can't we just take a god damn break?

Our worries were dispersed when a massive amount of Dragon Pulses destroyed the incoming Draco Meteor that were heading for us. A large group of dragons roared and headed straight for a sizable group of magmas that are located near the northern part of the Battle Frontier. A salamence flew down with his rider and all of our eyes widened at the sight of the trainer in question.

"Commander Drake?"

"Griff? Boy, it's been a long while!" Drake laughed out in his booming voice and used a hand to pat Fang on the head, who had run up to him to say his hello. "Hello to you too, Fang! How have you been? Have you been a good boy?"

"Uh…" Greta raised a sceptical eyebrow at how relaxed Drake seemed to be. "No offense, but we _are_ at war here."

"Take it easy, girl. Someone had sent a timely message to the entire Hoenn. Don't know how he or she managed it, but everyone will be coming here to help. ACE forces are on their way as well, I'm just a little early." Drake waved off our concerns as we watch the group of dragons under his command decimating their opposition. "Sidney and Phoebe are on their way to take care of the disruption that prevented anyone from teleporting in and out of here directly. They will join us once they are done."

My shadows suddenly enlarged and Dolly reappeared and join us. It's good to have her back.

 _'Mistress, Jarvis is asking you to check your xtransceiver.'_

I did as I was asked and my eyes widened in disbelief. Jarvis had outdone himself.

Or should I say, overkill. I don't think all of them will really come here but calling the entire Thirteen Pillars here is definitely overkill. I think I need to have a discussion with Jarvis about the definition of overkill after all this is said and done.

"If you have things handled here, then we will move to start searching for any survivors that may need our help and to clean out any magmas and aquas along the way." Brandon cut in as his pokemons regrouped around him. "Trainers, thank you for your help, but please head for the ships and get out of here. We need your help in escorting the remaining ships to safety. Frontier Brains, we need to go and clean up this mess. Vance, you might as well stay here with your family. We need someone to remain here at the harbour just in case anyway. We are finished if the harbour is destroyed."

"Yeah, go on. Don't let this old man delay you any longer, go to where you are needed. Leave the magmas to me and the aquas to Glacia. I will make sure that the harbour remains standing." Drake said as he made a shooing motion with his hand. The trainers wasted no time in heading for the ships. There are only a few left and the ships also needs some trainers to help protect them if any Aquas give chase. Like what Brandon said, someone needs to escort the ships to safety. Someone also needs to be here to guard the harbour. Without the use of Teleport, the sea route is our best option in leaving this place in one piece if things do go south.

"Thanks guys." Vance said as his fellow colleagues made their move to leave.

"Don't mention it." Anabel reassured Vance before she joined the rest of the Frontier Brains and took their leave, leaving us behind with Drake to guard the harbour.

"So, these are your kids? Man, how time flies."

"The older one is Vance, he was in ACE and just quitted recently to be a Frontier Brain. My girl here is Velda."

"Hah! I know that name! Made quite a stir back at Ever Grande with her proposal! Good job, kid! Finally! Someone who is capable enough to whip the lazy and cowardly officials into shape! You actually got them working!"

"Uh… thanks?" I replied in an unsure manner. How am I supposed to respond to his words?

Fang gave a low growl and we all looked at what got his attention. A new group of magmas and aquas appeared and is storming their way over to us. At least a hundred of them, by my estimate.

This is like a repeat of what had happened in Lilycove, except that this time, we only have four people instead of a defence force to help in repelling them.

The Frontier Brains really left at the wrong time.

"Griff, my boy! What do you say to fighting alongside each other again like old times, eh?" Drake boomed out as he slung an arm over my Dad's shoulder.

"Let's go, commander."

"Hey, we both quitted a long time ago. Stop calling me that."

"You are still my commander. Vance, Vel, get ready."

"I will handle the aerial stuffs. You guys be careful on the ground." Drake said as he climbed back up onto his salamence and his dragons began to regroup around him. "I will fire the opening attack. That will be the signal."

"He means a Draco Meteor." Dad whispered to me the moment Drake flew off with his dragons into the air. "He is like a human Fuzzy when it comes to battling with all the showy stuffs he like to do."

A human Fuzzy? One that is strong enough to command packs of highly trained dragons?

Save me from this stupidity.

* * *

There's no end to them.

Ricky Osman is just an intermediate level trainer who visited the Battle Frontier for the fun of it. He doesn't know what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn't expecting to find himself right in the middle of a war and fighting for his life.

Everyone knew that staying at the Battle Frontier is a one-way ticket to the afterlife with how fierce the battles there are. That is why the top priority of the LSDF there is to ship everyone out of the island so that hopefully, at least some of them can survive to tell the tale. He is now on board a ship and is helping to defend the ship from the onslaught of attacks from the aquas' pokemons that had given chase. Spenser was there to help protect the ships at the harbour, but he is also just one person and there aren't many water types on their side to begin with to help with the harbour's defence. They are on their own the moment the ships made their great escape from the Battle Frontier. He is really giving it his all, but there is just too many of them! They will all get wiped out at this rate!

"Nuzleaf, watch out!"

Ricky's nuzleaf was slammed onto the floor from the attacks of a feral looking hariyama. Ricky was forced to recall his companion and it was just in time too. Nuzleaf will have been turned into mincemeat if he was a second slower in doing so.

But that also means that only his azumarill is left to help him defend the ship. The rest of his team had already been taken out or were too tired to continue. Already, hostile pokemons are climbing up the ship and beginning to wreck havoc. The trainers and LSDF officers on board are doing their best to defend everyone, but this is a ship. There is a limit to the damages that the ship can take before it sinks into the bottom of the ocean.

"Play Rough! Take out the hariyama!"

Azumarill smacked the hariyama back into the ocean, but another group of makuhitas replaced the hariyamas and punched azumarill back with an Arm Thrust. Azumarill was sent flying and collided into Ricky. The both of them came to a forceful stop the moment they crashed into a wall.

A crazy looking floatzel opened its jaws and leapt towards them, intending to maul them to death. Azumarill tried to get up, but she is too heavily injured from the battles she has been experiencing since the start of the invasion on the Battle Frontier. Instead, azumarill decided to use her body as a shield and stood resolutely in front of Ricky with her arms spread out. At the very least, it is the best option she has to ensure that her trainer stays alive.

"Azumarill! NO!"

"Moony, Psychic!"

The floatzel was pushed back into the sea forcefully by an unseen force as a lunatone hovered in front of azumarill. Ricky immediately ran up and gave his azumarill a hug. She's safe. His azumarill is safe!

"You alright?"

A crack of Teleport was the only indication of the arrival of his saviour. Ricky's eyes widened the moment he recognised who had just saved him.

It is Liza! She is one of the two gym leaders of Mossdeep! How did she know about their predicament? Wasn't the comms down?

More crackling sounds of Teleport happened around the ship and numerous trained psychics made their appearance known. The group of psychics started to beat back the group of pokemons that belong to the aquas and throw them back into the sea.

They are saved!

"The hull! They broke through the hull! The ship will start sinking soon!"

Ricky gulped. This is really bad! All the aquas' pokemons are still down there! They will get themselves eaten alive!

"Tch." Ricky can hear Liza giving a frustrated click of her tongue the moment she heard of this bad news. "TATE! WALLACE! JUAN! YOU GUYS BETTER HURRY!"

"Relax, Liza. We are already here."

Juan appeared in a Teleport with Wallace, who were brought in by Tate as they hovered in mid-air with the help of a solrock's psychic powers.

"Theo, wash them away."

"Elise, you too. Take out the aquas."

Juan and Wallace commanded their kingdra and milotic respectively and a tidal wave was created that pushed the entire force of Team Aqua back. Some of the aquas' pokemons tried to shoot their attacks at them, but it was for naught as a xatu teleported itself in the way and deflected it with a Psychic. A Solar Beam from the solrock killed a huge group of the Team Aqua's pokemon, turning the tide of the battle back into their favour.

A large gyarados appeared from the sea and Ricky tensed. However, this gyarados seemed different from the ones the Aquas used as it attacked the submarines that belonged to Team Aqua instead.

"Hey, calm down. That is Wallace's gyarados. Everything is fine now."

Ricky turned back to look at Liza, who is putting her hands on her hips as her pokemons destroyed any remaining aquas in the background. She couldn't be older than him. Actually, is she even older than him? How is she so strong at her age?

Tate appeared beside his twin in a Teleport.

"Liza, we need to get everyone out of this ship. It is not going to hold. We also need to start searching for other ships that may need our help."

"I know. We can read each other's thoughts, remember? Are you doing the Teleporting stuffs or am I?"

"How about a race? The slowest one to bring everyone out will be stuck with gym leader's duties for the next month. Deal?"

"Deal."

Ricky didn't even have time to react as at the next moment, he had already found himself at Mossdeep. He looked around and saw that people from the same ship as he are starting to appear via Teleport one by one around him in the clearing that they are at.

The gym leaders of Mossdeep are saving everyone from the ship by using Teleport to get them to safety.

The speed of their Teleport is pretty insane too. A few people will appear every time he so much as blink. Is this the power of a Thirteen Pillar?

They are so damn strong.

But there's hope now. With trainers as strong as them protecting Hoenn, Hoenn can be saved.

Team Magma and Team Aqua can be stopped.

* * *

"YEEHAW! TAKE THIS!"

Drake's salamence destroyed a large group of skarmorys with a Flamethrower before moving on to the next group of flying types. Drake himself is punching excitedly at the air in front of him on his salamence's back as his salamence unleashed his fury at our enemies.

"COME AT US! WE WILL DESTROY YOU! MUAHAHAHA!"

I facepalmed from where I am on Flamel's back as we charged into the thick of the battle with the magmas and aquas. This is embarrassing. This guy was the previous Hoenn Champion before Wallace? This guy was Dad's superior in ACE? This guy is the Dragon Master of Hoenn and the current strongest Elite Four member Hoenn has to offer?

He certainly doesn't act like one with how he is acting like a cowboy on his salamence's back. All he needs now is a lasso to complete the image.

Despite that, I cannot deny the power that Drake wields. We wouldn't have it as easy as it is now if it wasn't for Drake and his team decimating a large number of our enemies like they are newborn pokemons. The firepower that a member of the Thirteen Pillar has is no laughing matter. I finally got to see for myself what they can really do in a life-or-death battle.

If only someone like that was there in the Lilycove invasion, many people could have been saved. They need not have died.

Fuzzy, Archer, Kel, Rena and Joy are positioned near me as we continued our charge, taking out any enemies that stand before us with ease. Ever since I knew about the prophecy, I had made the main focus of our training sessions in training my team to be able to handle situations like this, where huge group of pokemons will be attacking us and we have to defend ourselves in return. Competitive battling is very different from a battle that you have to fight with your life on the line. Death is a very real possibility here.

Chewy provided aerial support from where he is with Snap and Toothless. They are a great help in suppressing a large bulk of our enemies with their AOE attacks. Vance himself is at another corner with his team and is breaking through their ranks at a rapid pace.

"Electivire! Supercharge!"

A large Thunder crashed down onto electivire, who suddenly increased its speed by at least tenfold and became a yellow blur on the battlefield, knocking every foe away that is foolish enough to stand in its way.

Is that its Motor Drive ability in effect? It has to be. I cannot think of any other reason why electivire is able to power up so quickly in such a short time.

I heard Kratos giving a loud roar as he impaled our enemies in waves of stone spikes. A subsequent Dark Pulse from him created an open path for us to charge through. Ness is underground and launching surprise attacks of her own from below, taking out enemies in places that would be hard for us to reach otherwise.

Fuzzy suddenly started squeaking and pointed at a direction with his little paw. I turned my head and saw two figures in the distance who are making their escape. I recognise them immediately. They are some of the most wanted criminals in Hoenn.

"Dad! Vance! That is Shelly and Courtney! They are escaping!"

I can see Dad trying to get to the two criminals, but he is blocked by the waves of pokemons that he is currently facing. Vance is trying to get to them as well, but a garchomp intercepted him and he have to devote his attention to it instead.

"HAVE NO FEAR! FOR DRAKE THE DRAGON MASTER IS HERE!"

I need to keep my distance from this old man after this war is over. He is a combination of Fuzzy, Vance, and Wattson in the worst possible way.

Drake flew down with his dragons and I can see his altaria blasting Dragon Pulses at Shelly and Courtney. Drake should be enough to handle the two presumed leaders of the magma and aqua remnants. We need to do something about their pokemon army.

Fuzzy suddenly start to squeak excitedly again as he waved his arms. What is it now?

 _'Mistress, Fuzzy says that he wants to try **that**.'_

Really?

In usual circumstances, it will be very dangerous for Fuzzy to do what he wants to do right now. But Fuzzy is pretty well-trained all things considered. I am not sure if he can pull off the series of moves that I taught him to chain up in quick succession, but if he is confident that he can do it, I will place my trust in him. The rest of the team are nearby. We can pull him out if things get too hot.

If Fuzzy can really pull off the insane, suicidal, stupidly dangerous combo, we can wipe out a large group of our enemies.

"Alright, let's do it. Rena, get the team to lend Fuzzy the support he needs. If all goes well, we can all go home by night-time."

* * *

 _'YAY! VEL FINALLY GAVE ME PERMISSION TO DO IT! WOOHOO!'_

 _'Shut up, Fuzzy. Just get it started.'_

 _'Kel~~ Why so mean? But okie dokie! One supersized Charge coming right up!'_

Fuzzy concentrated on using Charge to boost the potency of his electric type moves to the maximum and used an Ion Deluge to convert all normal type moves to electric ones. This is the first step.

 _'A step to the left! Two steps to the right! Wave my furry paws in the sky three times in a circular motion and then a graceful acrobatic backflip to complete the ritual! Fuzzy Rain Dance version three! Activate!'_

Storm clouds began to form at a rapid rate as the team defended Fuzzy from any stray attacks that might get too near to him as he began his preparations. He needs the conditions to be as favourable to him as possible.

A Gravity from Joy pinned a pack of linoones down just long enough for Hulk to smash them into paste with his fists. Ness emerged from the ground and pushed back a flock of dustox with a Thunderbolt in an effort to protect Fuzzy. Anytime now.

 _'Fuzzy, are you sure about this? Remember the last time we tried this out? It didn't go so well.'_

 _'Aww~~ Rocky! You do care about me!'_

 _'Shut up.'_

Kratos fired another beam of Dark Pulse at an approaching group of houndours, blasting them sky high. Snap shot them down with Laser Breaths. The houndours dropped back down onto the ground and never stood up again.

A Brine would have gotten Fuzzy if it wasn't for Archer standing in its way and intercepted the attack on Fuzzy's behalf. Dolly appeared behind the starmie that fired the attack and unleashed a Shadow Ball Barrage at close range, taking it out.

 _'I AM THE CHILD OF LIGHTNING! THE INCARNATION OF THUNDER! I AM THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF NATURE! WIND BENDS TO MY WILL, THE STORMS MOVE AS I COMMAND! BEHOLD! I AM THE-'_

In an unexpected show of teamwork, the entire team cut Fuzzy off at the same time with the same words.

 ** _'Just. Get. On. With. It. Fuzzy.'_**

 _'GUYS! Don't ruin my perfect introduction!'_

The team ignored Fuzzy's whining as they continued to decimate the enemies around them. Flamel shot breaths of fire with Vel riding on his back. Rena released a huge wave of psychic energy, ripping the ground from under and allowing Lily to pick off their targets with perfect ease. Bigblue took advantage of the rain clouds to use his Rain Pulse combo, dropping his version of aerial attack on a large group of numels and camerupts. Kel stood near Flamel and Vel as her Prediction combo took out any foes that got too close to their beloved trainer. It is the perfect combo to ensure her safety.

Lightning flashed and streaked across the sky as Fuzzy's combo finally advanced to the later stages. Toothless flew up high and prevented any of the magmas' and aquas' pokemons from dispersing the rain clouds that Fuzzy had painstakingly set up. Hulk charged through the mass of enemies and made his way to Fuzzy's side.

 _'Ready, Fuzzy?'_

 _'As ready as I will ever be! Behold! You are witnessing the birth of-'_

Hulk didn't have the patience to continue listening to Fuzzy's nonsensical introduction as he unceremoniously picked Fuzzy up with a paw and cocked his arm back.

 _'Don't die, Fuzzy.'_

Hulk threw Fuzzy forward in a powerful throwing motion, allowing Fuzzy to speed through their enemies.

 _'WHEEEEEE!'_

Fuzzy flew through the air in a streak of white and yellow and landed deep in the middle of a group of hostile pokemons.

 _'COME AT ME! I AM THE FEARLESS-'_

Fuzzy's introduction was interrupted once again as he was batted away by an Iron Tail from a rude lairon and then hit into the ground from an exploud. Fuzzy used an Endure to withstand the beating that he is experiencing from the hordes of hostile pokemons while maintaining his hold over Bide. Bide is a normal type move that is in a way, similar to Counter. The user has to endure hits for a short while as it stores energy. The more damage the user receives during this period, the bigger the damage Bide will do when the user finally releases the stored energy.

Fuzzy is currently taking a crazy amount of damage from the hordes of hostile pokemons that is attacking him. He would have been dead if it wasn't for his use of Endure.

That also means that the energy he will be releasing will do a **LOT** of damage.

Fuzzy had already used an Ion Deluge beforehand to turn all normal type moves into electric type ones. He had also used a supersized Charge to boost his electric type moves and the weather condition is just perfect for him. He had never once miss any of his electric type attacks as long as there are storm clouds in the sky.

Right now, Fuzzy is a living ticking electric bomb.

 _'BEGONE, YOU HEINOUS CREATURES! FALL BEFORE THE MIGHT OF THE AWESOME, HANDSOME, DASHING, ELECTRIFYING SHOCKING FUZZY!'_

The energy released from Fuzzy's Bide immediately unleashed itself in a massive explosion that rocked the entire battlefield in a violent earthquake. This is the Nuclear combo that Vel had devised for him. The more opponents Fuzzy faced and the more damage he took, the stronger his Bide attack will be. Since Fuzzy's species is one who lacks power naturally, he converts it to an electric type move via Ion Deluge so that he can boost the effects of Bide with Charge and Rain Dance. However, it is not that useful in a single battle where his team is not around to help him. He will be momentarily helpless whenever he starts to chain up the moves needed for him to use the Nuclear combo.

Also, this combo leaves him very weak after all is said and done. If it wasn't for him using an Endure to brace himself, he might have got himself killed even before he can unleash his Bide.

A group of crawdaunts snapped their pincers viciously and head towards him to finish him off. Fuzzy is barely standing as it is. His health had dropped to drastically low levels after the effect of Endure had ended.

However, Vel had also thought of a way for him to get around this.

Fuzzy raised his tiny paws into the sky as he began his chant.

 _'WITH MY RIGHT PAW I SUMMON THY LIGHTNING! WITH MY LEFT PAW I SUMMON THY THUNDER! LIGHTNING AND THUNDER, I COMMAND YOU! COME TO MEEEEEEEE!'_

A large roaring column of Thunder crashed down from the sky and struck Fuzzy. Fuzzy let a maniacal laugh escape his mouth as he felt himself healed up from the Thunder attack.

Vel was very surprised that he possesses the Volt Absorb ability, the ability to heal himself from electric type moves. Since he wasn't any good at it even during the Ever Grande Conference and he didn't show any signs of being able to use it, Vel had always thought that he possesses another ability like the Run Away or the Pickup ability that are more commonly seen in his species until they found out about his Volt Absorb ability a few weeks ago. According to Vel, Volt Absorb is a really rare ability for his species. However, it is also even harder for his species to use since they aren't naturally suited to use it, hence the rarity. Pachirisus can utilise the Volt Absorb ability given enough training, but no one trains a pachirisu on a competitive level and finding one with the same Volt Absorb ability is even harder. Vel and Fuzzy are on their own to invent a new way to utilise his Volt Absorb ability to its fullest potential.

Vel had thought up of a suicidal way to do it. She taught him how to safely turn himself into a living bomb, and then taught him how to heal himself back up by taking advantage of his Volt Absorb ability. With that, Fuzzy can now chain the Nuclear combo repeatedly without rest. This combo may be near useless in a competitive setting with all the stuffy rules in place, but it is the perfect way to take out a large number of enemies in a fight to the death with help from the team.

To be able to even think of such a way to help him get stronger is unbelievable. Vel is truly one of a kind.

 _'COME AT ME! I AM THE REAPER! I AM THE MANIFESTATION OF YOUR FEAR! GROVEL BEFORE MY FEET AS I SEND YOU TO MAKE YOUR MAKER!'_

Fuzzy squeaked out a roar of challenge as he dove into the crawdaunts and start to beat them senseless with sparks of electricity. Any damage he suffered can be healed up by the streaks of lightning he called down from the skies. Right now, he is invincible. Right now, he is a force of nature.

Right now, he is the strongest pachirisu in existence.

* * *

"Vel, what the fuck?! Just what did you feed Fuzzy with?!"

"Language, Vance." I chided my brother as we continue to mow down the large group of Magmas and Aquas although I cannot help but reply him in a smug tone. "What will Mum say if she hears you?"

Another large electrical explosion shook the very ground itself as a column of lightning struck down at where Fuzzy is. A yellow streak of light flew about the battlefield, taking out any water type pokemons that the Aquas are using against us from where he is at the far back.

I don't know **_how_** , but getting struck with electricity makes Fuzzy experience a high. I guess it is kind of similar to experiencing a sugar rush. His speed will be temporarily boosted, a sign that most electric types exhibit temporarily when they consume electricity. I saw that many times observing electric types when I was in New Mauville although these symptoms usually last for only a few seconds to a minute at the most. Only pokemons with Motor Drive ability are able to effectively use this phenomenon in combat. In Fuzzy's case, he absorbed the full force of natural lightning several times. His 'sugar rush' must be akin to feeling the effects of eating a can of steroids right now. He can last for quite a while in his 'sugar rush' state the moment he uses his Nuclear combo.

"You know what? I am going to give Fuzzy the nickname of 'The Yellow Flash' after this stupid invasion is over. He earned it."

"I guess he does look like a mere flash of yellow." Vance agreed as we ride upon our pokemons side by side and commanded them to take out our enemies. "Want to have a fight between my electivire and Fuzzy after this is over? Motor Drive versus Volt Absorb. That will be fun to watch."

"Yeah, sure. Why not? I think Fuzzy will like that."

Dad and Fang took out another group of magmas before Dad called out after me from where he is on tropius's back.

"Vel, can you get Fuzzy to the right side of the battlefield? We need to thin out their numbers over there."

"Got it, Dad. Dolly, switching manoeuvres! Rena, tell Fuzzy of the change in plans!"

Dolly disappeared into the shadows and appeared at the right side of the battlefield where more Magmas and Aquas had appeared. To be honest, I don't know why these scums are still sticking around when there's nothing left in this place for them to stick around for. But I won't complain if this allows us to uproot them for good.

Dolly used an Ally Switch and switched places with Fuzzy, who immediately sped around the area with a combination of Spark, Quick Attack, and Magnet Rise. The Magmas and Aquas fell like dominos the moment Fuzzy made his appearance.

I think my trio is now very interested in fighting Fuzzy from how they are destroying their opponents with increased eagerness. I will need to prevent that from happening. I want my hair to remain blonde, not grey.

"Vel, we have thinned out their numbers enough. I think we can take the remaining Magmas and Aquas down in one strike if we round them up and then unleash our strongest attack. Let Fuzzy coordinate with my electivire. They are fast enough to round them up and herd them where we want to be."

Without further ado, I let Vance take the lead as Dad and I supported him in forcing the Magmas and Aquas to where we want them to be. Chewy continuously spew different range attacks from his three heads without rest, herding the terrorists to our desired location. Fuzzy and electivire ran circles around them, keeping them in within an imaginary circle and not allowing them to get out.

"Bigblue! Lily! Ness!"

Walls of stone rose out from the ground at a rapid rate and box the entire group in. The only way for them to escape is up.

But that is also where our attacks will be coming from.

"Kratos, Hyper Beam! Snap, Draco Meteor! Toothless, Blast Burn!"

"Chewy, Draco Meteor! Frosty, Blizzard! Tropius, Solar Beam!"

"Macky, Shadow Ball! Metagross, Hyper Beam! Salamence, Draco Meteor!"

The attacks from our strongest members of our team produced a violent mass of energy that nearly blew us away from the resulting shock wave. The good thing that came out of it is that we succeeded in wiping them out.

"Finally." Dad grumbled as tropius slowly landed back onto the ground. I am sure that there are more Magmas and Aquas at the other parts of the Battle Frontier, not just here at the harbour where we are currently at. However, the Frontier Brains had went off to finish them. Flannery is also somewhere out there as well doing her best in demolishing them. Drake had also mentioned that help will be arriving soon.

Although it seems like we didn't need the help after all.

"Vel!"

Liza appeared in a Teleport and went to glomp me.

"Liza?"

"Sorry we are a little late! But we were busy trying to Teleport everyone we can find on the sea to safety before coming here! Juan and Wallace are combing the seas for any Aquas that they might have missed out and Tate is on his way to Teleport Sidney and Phoebe here! They just took down whatever is preventing us from teleporting in and out of the Battle Frontier! ACE forces will be making their way here soon! In fact, I think they are appearing in about-"

The repeated sounds of crackling of Teleports cut her off as a huge number of masked operatives in uniform appeared around us. The leader of the group gave a wave of his hand and the operatives split up and swiftly made their way to the different parts of the island. Some of the places are still experiencing explosions from what I can see.

"Well, you have done enough, Vel. Leave it to the League to clean this up. Take a break. I think I sense a few people that may need my help, see you!"

Liza gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder before she waved me goodbye and disappeared in another Teleport, presumably to save whoever she had just sensed with her psychic powers.

"Everyone alright?"

Drake made his presence known again as he landed beside us with his salamence. However, there is an obvious absence of two people.

"Where are Shelly and Courtney?"

"This sounds embarrassing, but they gave me the slip." Drake grumbled as he jumped down from the back of his salamence. "Who even uses Smoke Ball nowadays?"

A familiar trill rang through the air that got my head turning to find Chill. Chill skidded on the ground and came to a stop beside me. She is injured in several places, but the injuries aren't too serious. She is fine.

"The Aquas had retreated." Spenser said as he regrouped with us as he took a ride on his arcanine's back. "And nice to see you, Drake. It has been a long time."

"Howdy, Spenser! You are here too?!"

"Don't forget about me." Glacia of the Elite Four announced her presence with a team of ice types around her. "Hello, Drake. I see you are still as lively as ever."

A metagross landed not far from where we are and Steven walked up to us. His hair is still a little messy from his aerial battle in stopping whoever is up there in the sky earlier and dropping bombs on us, but otherwise, he is fine.

"Everyone alright? Anyone need medical attention?"

"We are fine." Drake waved Steven's concerns off. "What's the situation now?"

"I have given Fire Company full rein to do whatever they see fit. Commander Burner will be overseeing the cleaning up and assisting the Frontier Brains. We need to hurry and track down where the Magmas and Aquas had retreated to. We don't need them to stage a third invasion on Hoenn."

"Umm… about that…"

"I suggest we tracked them with psychics and flying types." Drake probably didn't hear me speaking as he cut me off. "They couldn't have run too far, even with Secret Power at their disposal."

"Actually…"

"We should track them down by the sea route. The Aquas had submarines." Glacia offered a different opinion to Drake's suggestion.

"Dark types may work too."

Sidney appeared in a crack of Teleport with Phoebe and Tate. Tate gave me a small smile before he teleported away once more to go to wherever his duty requires him to be, leaving the last two members of Hoenn's Elite four to join our little group.

"Dark types are capable of tracking down nasty thoughts, the same as ghosts."

"What Sidney said." Phoebe contributed to the discussion with a hand on her hip as her dusknoir floated beside her.

"Excuse me…"

"Dark types are better."

"Ghosts are better, you goon." Phoebe argued with Sidney with an annoyed expression on her face.

No one is listening to what I am saying.

 _'Rena, can you grab their attention for me?'_

Rena used a brief Echoed Voice and let out a high-pitched yip, catching everyone's attention.

"I know all of you are experts in your respective fields, but I do have some valuable information to offer." I said in a half-annoyed tone. Jarvis had just returned to my xtransceiver with some really valuable information and I need to share it with people who can undertake this job. "My porygon-z had managed to track down the various hideouts that the Magmas and Aquas are most likely hiding at. With the help from the ACE forces, we can take them out for good."

"Splendid!" Drake said happily as he gave me a large pat on my back that nearly got me tumbling down. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

I can feel my eyes twitching in annoyance at that remark. Just who was ignoring me earlier?

"Oh, and where are they?" Sidney asked curiously with a cacturne beside him.

"In many places. They have split up their forces to prevent a complete wipe-out of their little gang. From what my porygon-z had found out, they have little bases in almost every town and city in Hoenn. We will need the aid of everyone who we are able to gather. However, their main base where the bulk of their forces had probably congregated is probably somewhere off the East of Pacifidlog. That is the main problem."

"If you don't mind me asking, why will that be a problem?" Glacia asked in a genuine confused manner as she looked at me. "We just have to surf there."

"Because according to my porygon-z, that place is most likely Mirage Island. Unless you are telling me that someone here has a way to pinpoint its exact location, I have no idea how we are going to find that elusive place."

* * *

 **AN: Since Vel is no longer officially an advanced level trainer like what she is back at Lilycove, I had made the battles easier for her in this arc. The Battle Frontier is an area where trainers will congregate and after much thinking, I think it seems more reasonable that Vel will have an easier time trying to repel the attacks since her team is so much more stronger now. Furthermore, she isn't alone. Her family is there with her and Jarvis did call for help. That is not considering the number of strong trainers there.**

 **I wasn't planning on writing about Fuzzy's growth and increase in strength, but I think this adds some humour into the otherwise grim chapter. Hope it lightens the mood a little.**

 **I am a little too lazy to check through this chapter considering it is 3am on my side here and I have to wake up by 8 at the latest. Let me know if you guys spot any mistakes that I have to correct.**

 **The next chapter will be about Mirage Island and more about the Magmas and Aquas. There are other things that I have in mind as well. Hopefully they are interesting enough.**

 **As usual, I hope you enjoy the story.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**


	40. Chapter 40- Torch

I shouldn't be here.

This is a job only for the strongest of the strongest trainers Hoenn has to offer. So _why_ am **I** here?

This is an absolutely bad idea.

"Why the long face, Vel?" Drake asked in his booming jovial voice from where he is flying on his salamence beside me. I am flying on Snap. Dad is riding on tropius and the rest of the Elite Four are all hitching a ride on one of Drake's dragons each.

Me and Dad with the Elite Four. We are going to take down the main force of Team Magma and Team Aqua with just six people, alone, with _no_ backup. Reason? The Elite Four is _the_ backup.

How did I get myself into this mess again?

Vance had to stay back at the Battle Frontier to help clean up the mess there. The same reason goes for Flannery, who is also helping out with the cleaning up. Vance is a Frontier Brain, and despite how much he wants to come with us, he knows that his duty dictates that his priority should be given to the Battle Frontier. I had wanted to stay with him, until Drake cuts in.

 _"Griff, your little girl is joining the… what's that called again? The international whatever thing?"_

 _"Yes, she is going to. Why?"_

 _"Then she should experience for herself what combating criminal groups are really like. At the very least, we are around to protect her this time. This is the safest scenario for her to learn before she goes out there alone without any experience or knowledge when it comes to taking down criminal organisations."_

Dad was reluctant, but we all knew better than anyone that what Drake said holds merit. If my future job requires me to bust criminal groups and organisations regularly, then it will be beneficial for me if I shadow the Elites my region has to offer and see how they do things in our homeland. Furthermore, the entire Elite Four is here. Their collective firepower is equivalent to a small army. This is the best task force Hoenn can offer and they are capable of taking down the stronghold of Team Magma and Team Aqua by themselves without help. With this arrangement, the rest of the League's forces are now free to spread themselves and raid every single known base of these terrorists that Jarvis had mapped out for us.

Dad decided to tag along because he is worried for me. The rest of the Elite Four were sceptical about this arrangement at first, but the moment Drake mentioned that Dad used to be his right hand man in ACE until the both of them retired and when Kratos nearly tried to maul the three of them when they openly doubted my abilities, they changed their mind. They had thought that Kratos belongs to Dad. They weren't expecting me, a thirteen-year-old girl, to be able to command a tyranitar.

I have a feeling situation like this will be common when I finally join the international group that is going to be set up. Imagine trying to help plan a way to save the world as a thirteen-year-old girl but got yourself brushed off by the world's Elites simply because of your age. What a pain.

On a side note, Sidney seems to have taken a small interest in me the moment he spotted Kratos. Drake had told me that Sidney has been contemplating on whether he should train a tyranitar or a hydreigon and then add them onto his team for quite a while now.

Steven is linking up with the rest of the Thirteen Pillars to get them to organise their own army to take down the Aquas and the Magmas hiding in their city. The entirety of ACE is being mobilised, including those who are supposedly in retirement but had expressed interest in being called back to duty in times of crisis. Even the Rangers and the LSDF are in on this.

Due to the surprisingly large number of bases these terrorists have and how they are spread, our forces will be stretched thin. According to Jarvis's calculations, each base will probably just have a few members stationed there at all times. The Aquas and Magmas have spread their members out to reduce the likelihood of being totally uprooted if they were being found. They don't want to put all their eggs in one basket and risk a total wipe-out, a fate they almost suffered when the League launched a counterattack on their main base about half a year back.

Jarvis had also found out that Mirage Island is the most probable place for them to build their main stronghold. It is the place where their best and strongest members are being gathered and it is where most of their forces is stationed. I don't know how they found and entered the elusive place, but I have to admit that it is a good idea to build their HQ there. No wonder they were able to hide from the League for as long as they did.

What surprised me is that there are people who actually knows how to locate and find the place.

Tucker had very helpfully told us that there is an old man living in Pacifidlog who is able to calculate the exact day and time when Mirage Island will appear. No one knows how he did it, but word has it that he had spent years ever since he was a youth to find out more about the mysterious place. He claimed to have visited the place. Nobody believed him at first, but when he brought back a bag of Liechi berries one fine day after his supposed trip, people started to place some faith in his words. Liechi berries are rare, and the amount he had brought back would have cost him a bomb. In fact, there are no known Liechi berries to be picked in the wild in Hoenn. These berries are notoriously hard to grow and harvest. The oldest records our region has that documented such sightings had said that the only known location to be able to pick these berries in the wild is on Mirage Island itself.

Even so, many of the Pacifidlog townsfolk still believe that the old man is raving mad and that Mirage Island don't exist. The reason is simply because no one had managed to enter the island even with the directions the old man had supplied them. Even Tucker himself have no faith in the old man's words, but this old man is our best lead so far.

We had stopped by Pacifidlog to ask for the old man's assistance. According to him, Mirage Island should be accessible from now until tomorrow noon before it closes itself off from the outside world again. This gives us nearly 24 hours to annihilate and flatten Team Magma's and Team Aqua's stronghold. The old man had also mentioned that while Mirage Island can be accessed by surfing, it will be much easier to enter Mirage Island if we ride on flying types. Currently, Drake is leading the group at the front using the directions the old man had given us.

"That old man better not be lying." Sidney grumbled from where he is riding on the back of Drake's altaria. "This better not be a waste of our time."

"Even if Mirage Island don't exist, we know that the Aquas and Magmas have to be somewhere around the area." Glacia added her opinion. "It won't be a waste of time."

"Shush, we are getting close." Drake grunted out in a more serious tone. "Glacia."

Glacia released a vanilluxe from her position on one of Drake's flygon, who is happily conversing with Snap as they flew alongside each other. Snap's species is rare to spot in human captivity since they mainly hide themselves in the harsh desert. Snap hasn't seen another of his kind ever since he joined my team.

Glacia's vanilluxe used Mist which produces a dense white fog that surrounds our entire group.

"This will be able to disguise ourselves as a floating cloud." Glacia very helpfully informed me upon seeing the perplexed look on my face. "Mist can be used in many ways if you have enough creativity. My vanillluxe is even able to use the refracting properties of the fog to create simple mirages and illusions, although not as good or effective as Sidney's zoroark. Still, this ability is useful for tricking anyone who is not expecting such a thing to happen. Your lapras should be able to learn this trick given enough practice."

I nodded my head in understanding. No wonder Glacia is a member of Hoenn's Elite Four. Who would have thought about using Mist in this manner? Using it as a way to hide is a common tactic, but using it to refract light and create mirages? That is something new.

At the very least, I wouldn't have thought about it. How did her vanilluxe use it to create _mirages_ anyway?

The sun had started to set and dusk will fall upon us soon. It is for this reason that I decided to ride on Snap instead of Toothless, since the Toothless's tail flame will easily give our location away in the dark night sky. Drake rose his right hand and gave a gesture, prompting us to all follow him in silence as our pokemon dove down with him and his salamence leading the way.

It seems that Drake had really managed to locate Mirage Island with the directions the old man from Pacifidlog had given us. On hindsight, Drake is a sailor, so navigation should be his forte.

Mirage Island is beautiful.

From what I could see after our group emerged from the clouds, Mirage Island is a single mass of land covered in mist and dense foliage. There are numerous whirlpools surrounding the island which prevents anyone from going in or out without pokemon knowing the moves Whirlpool and Surf, making it extremely inaccessible. The old man is right, flying is the easiest option if we can navigate our way through the clouds. Surfing would be a hassle and the terrorists would have spotted us coming a mile away. Realistically, flying is our best option for an ambush operation.

Glacia's vanilluxe started to emit more Mist from its body and I saw for myself how the fog turned from a dense white into a semi-transparent state.

"This is what I call the refractive mode, because the Mist refracts light away from us, making us invisible." Glacia spoke to me with pride colouring her voice. "Right now, we are cloaked in a transparent Mist that prevents anyone on the outside from spotting us. They still can, if their eyes are sharp enough, but it is dusk now. It will be near impossible to spot us through sight alone unless they are extremely lucky."

"Heh, this means Phoebe and I can go all out too." Sidney said this with a bloodthirsty grin forming on his face. "Our pokemon work best in the dark."

"Cut the talking, we are landing in hostile territory soon. Prepare yourselves."

Our group remained silent upon Drake's words and we landed on Mirage Island without much fanfare.

"I still can't believe that this place really exists." Phoebe spoke to no one in particular the moment she landed on the ground.

"Goes to show how little we know about our own home." Drake said as we gathered around each other. "For all we know, there may be more of such places in Hoenn."

We called out our smaller pokemon and recalled the bigger ones. We will only release them when our ambush starts.

"Remember the plan?"

"We attack from four different directions. The girl and her Dad will be monitoring the movements of the Magmas and Aquas with their pokemon and providing us with real-time updates. Missing anything else?" Sidney said in an impatient manner as he gave a shrug.

"Protocol M is approved. Go all out if you have to."

 _Protocol M?_

The look on my face must have been obvious since Sidney facepalmed the moment he spotted it.

"Drake, you are blurting out highly classified information to kids."

"She is involved with the prophecy crap. She will find out sooner or later, better if she finds out now than later." Drake rebuffed with all traces of the Fuzzy-ness in him disappearing before turning to me. "Look, Vel. We don't have time to brief you on what Protocol M is about, but whatever you see that is going to happen later, no matter how unbelievable it looks, is _top-secret_. You get me?"

I can only nod. I will ask Dad later if he knows what Protocol M is about.

"Right, so if there aren't any questions, let's-"

The rustling of the bushes to our right got us and our pokemon on immediate alert.

A wobbuffet emerged from the bushes and landed in a heap in front of us. It is heavily injured.

"What the… gave me the scare back there." Sidney complained as the tension in his shoulders left him and he returned to his relaxed posture. I, on the other hand, am thinking about something else.

"Girl, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I am doing?" I shot back a question of my own as I walked up to the wobbuffet and used a potion that I brought along with me to heal its wounds as much as I could. "Wobbuffet here might have information anyway, we can ask if it knows anything."

The looks everyone else sent my way told me that they are not following my train of thoughts.

"This wobbuffet is obviously a pokemon native to this island." I started to explain as the wobbuffet started to sit upright groggily as its wounds start to close shut from the potion's effect. "My espeon can converse with it and then inform me through telepathy what this wobbuffet knows about the Magmas and Aquas here. I know the four of you are strong, but having more information, no matter how insignificant, is still better than going in blind, don't you think?"

"Would you look at that, the little girl has a good head on her shoulders after all." Sidney said in an annoying condescending voice that makes me want to shave his head bald at that instant, not that there is much hair on his head to begin with.

"Shut up, Sidney." Phoebe pinched him on his arm in a forceful manner. "Be nice."

"I don't care if you guys are the Elite Four." Dad cut in as he crossed his arms at where he is standing at and glared at the Elite Four, his gaze lingering on Sidney more so than the others. "But speak to my girl in that tone _one more time_ and you will find yourself having a problem with the Vera family. She is the only one who managed to pinpoint the location of every single Magma and Aqua base and lead us here, something that you Elites should have done months ago. Give her the respect that she deserves."

 _Thanks, Dad. You are awesome._

Sidney looked a little embarrassed at how everyone around him pointed out how rude he was, but he managed to squeeze out an apology.

"Uh… yeah. Sorry about that, girl. That wasn't very nice of me."

I guess this is the best apology I can get out of that prideful man.

"Name's _Velda_ , not _girl_. If we are to work with each other, at least try to get my name right."

 _'Mistress. The peacekeeper has something valuable to share.'_

I turned my head to Rena, ignoring the Elite Four. For some reason, I am a little disillusioned about the Elite Four after seeing our Elites' behaviour from when I first met them till now. Maybe it is just Sidney who lacks any form of tact and makes his opinion known in an obvious manner, but I can tell that most of them are also not taking me seriously. If it wasn't for his relationship with Dad, even Drake probably won't give me any time of the day either.

I am but a thirteen-year-old girl. Compared to them, I am nothing.

And I will probably be meeting a few members of the Elite Four from every known region in a week or two. _Great_. I can already see how much of a mess our first meeting will be.

I took in the information Rena had procured from the wild wobbuffet. From the looks of it, this operation shouldn't be too hard.

"According to the wobbuffet, it mentioned that humans have been clearing out the middle of the island to build their stronghold there. Many wynauts were apparently killed as well in the process, the wild pokemon population was not strong enough to defend themselves against them. It also said that the humans mainly congregated in the building and rarely ventured far away from it, so it should be easy for us to round them up since they are all gathered in one place."

"Bastards." Sidney growled out as his dark types followed his examples. "What kind of sickos will kill pokemon in this manner?"

A sableye emerged from Phoebe's shadow and gestured to her.

"What we learned from the wobbuffet seems to line up with what Gleams had found out as well." Phoebe said as I look at her sableye. Since when did it sneaked off to do reconnaissance without our knowledge?

Drake gave a clap to gather our attention onto him.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

* * *

"You ok, Vel?"

"I'm fine, Dad."

The two of us hid ourselves in the dense foliage as Rena, Bigblue, and Snap collaborated with each other to use their sensing abilities to keep track of the movements of the Magmas and Aquas. With their abilities to sense our enemies accurately, they will be the equivalent of our enemy-seeking radar for this mission. Dolly, Kel, Lily, Joy, Ness, Hulk, Archer are spaced out around us as well. Their form is still considered small enough to hide themselves behind the huge trees and blend into the dark night. The rest of my team are kept in my pokeballs. Fuzzy is out of commission since using the Nuclear combo had took a lot out of him. He won't be participating in any battles for at least the next 24 hours given how exhausted he is.

Fang, Frosty, tropius, and Chewy are also out and they also hid themselves by blending into their surroundings. Dad stood beside me as Jarvis made himself comfortable in my xtransceiver. He will be helping me to communicate with the Elite Four as they do their job. If all goes well, Dad and I won't need to do anything other than to monitor the progress of our assault.

"Most Elites have their own pride and they can have a little attitude." Dad made conversation with me as we waited for the Elite Four to get into their position. The wobbuffet from earlier stood beside us as still as a statue. I guess that it wants to watch the Magmas' and Aquas' downfall with its own eyes given what they did to its kind. "Don't be too affected by what they say, they will realise their errors soon enough."

A blink of my xtransceiver brought our attention back to it. It seems that the Elite Four had all gotten themselves into their respective positions.

"Jarvis, give the signal."

A huge explosion shook the island as I saw the appearance of many furious dragons in the sky bombarding their attacks at a specific spot. Waves of dark and ghostly energies can be seen as well even with the night sky as our background. I spotted a storm of raging blizzard at the other end.

It has finally started. Hopefully, Team Magma and Team Aqua can be put down for good after this. We don't need them to terrorise our homeland any longer.

 _'Mistress, some of them are escaping underground. Snap sensed them, to the west of the island.'_

I quickly brought my xtransceiver closer to my face and spoke to the device. Communications between me and the Elite Four are open the moment the operation had started.

"Drake! Some of them are escaping underground to the west of the island!"

"Got it! Sidney! You are the closest! Do something!"

Another explosion was Sidney's answer as a massive Dark Pulse blew up an area from what me and Dad can see where we had hidden ourselves far away from the fighting. I don't know what Sidney and Phoebe did, but they claimed that teleportation is now impossible after they quickly scouted the island by themselves, saying that they had did something to prevent the use of Teleport in and out of the island. From what they let slip, it is something similar to what the Magmas and Aquas had done when they lay siege on the Battle Frontier.

I wonder how? Is it a combination of pokemon moves, or the use of technology? Maybe a combination of both?

"Watch out! They have ghosts as well! They are trying to escape with Shadow Sneak!" Phoebe's voice can be heard through my xtransceiver as she yelled out a warning.

"I'm on it! Absol, Pursuit!"

I can feel myself frowning. Ghosts? Since when did Magmas and Aquas decide to use ghosts?

"Where are the admins? Or Shelly and Courtney? I haven't seen them!" Glacia's reminder rang through as we witness another icy storm covering a huge area in a blanket of frost.

"Me neither!"

"Same here!"

"No signs of them! Vel, can your pokemon find them?"

I can see Rena focusing as the psychic glow in her eyes got brighter and brighter. She had seen the two new leaders of Team Magma and Team Aqua and remembered their psychic signature back at the Battle Frontier. Tracking them down should be a doable job for her. It only takes time to filter their presence out from the number of people currently on this island.

 _'The north of the island! They are making their escape!'_

I cursed in my mind before relaying the information to the Elite Four. HOW did they sneak past the Elite Four unnoticed?!

"There's too many of them! We will be stuck here for a short while! You and Griff have to stop and delay them for as long as you can! We will be there soon!"

I turned to look at Dad. Battling two of the most dangerous criminals of Hoenn is not what I had been expecting, but I should have prepared myself for this possibility.

"No point staying here, let's go. We are strong enough to at least delay them." Dad gave a reassuring pat on my shoulder as I finally released the rest of my team except for Fuzzy.

"Rena, pass on the location of Shelly and Courtney to Dolly. Dolly, Shadow Sneak us to them. Everyone, we are entering combat immediately, so prepare yourselves."

Dolly shrieked out a reply as she commanded the shadows around us to slowly embrace our group. It will take some time for Dolly to transport us there due to how big our group is, but it won't be long. I quickly swing myself onto Flamel's back at the same time as Dad mounted tropius, who had walked up to stand beside him.

I really hate to find myself fighting in a life-or-death battle, but if I don't do this, many more may get injured or killed if Shelly and Courtney managed to escape. Dad and I have to stop them.

"Vel, just checking, are you wearing the pendant I got for you for your birthday?"

I blinked my eyes in confusion. Why the sudden question?

"Yeah, why?"

"Make sure it stays on you at all times. Kratos, come here for a sec."

Kratos's confusion rivalled mine, but he walked up to Dad anyway as Dad passed him something that I cannot make out in the darkness. All I can tell is that whatever Dad gave Kratos, it is small.

"Hold onto this item, Kratos, you may need it."

I idly pulled out and checked the pendant Dad had got for me for my thirteenth birthday. It is a simple pendant with a small jewel embedded in it. The jewel has a rainbow hue to it, looking almost like some sort of marble ball. I wear it around my neck at all times although I mostly kept it hidden underneath what I'm wearing. Dad had said that he got it for me as a good luck charm.

It also looks like a Key Stone too, the one I remembered about from my previous life, but I don't see any DNA markings on it. If it wasn't for the colour resembling those of a Key Stone, I wouldn't have suspect that it could be one. I still have no confirmation though, since the jewel doesn't react to anything no matter what I do.

 _'Mistress, Dolly is ready.'_

"Bring us there, Dolly."

* * *

Griff gave a quick glance in his daughter's direction as his team fought against Shelly's. Velda seems to be doing fine so far. Hopefully she won't have to resort to using Mega Evolution in this battle. He doesn't even know if she and Kratos are capable of invoking it yet.

He had wanted to introduce her to this highly confidential information after their visit to the Battle Frontier. During the visit he had with the President, the President had also given his permission along with Wallace to allow Velda to have a Mega Stone. A Tyranitarite was what he had chosen for her from the list of options he was given. Their family had always held a few keystones in their possession since centuries ago, so he didn't need to get one from the League. He gave one of it to Velda in the form of a jewel embedded in a nicely crafted pendant as her birthday present, one that his daughter had taken to wearing it on her person at all times. Thankfully, she seems to like the present.

He should have taught his daughter how to utilise this power the moment he got permission from the League. He wanted to put off shoving the burden of keeping another highly guarded secret onto his daughter for as long as possible, but it seems that the unexpected invasion had caused the effect of his actions to backfire.

If things do take a turn for the worst, then he will do everything he can as a father to keep his daughter safe.

Frosty and Chewy are doing a great job thus far in downing many of Shelly's pokemon with Fang and tropius providing backup. Right now, the greatest threat on Shelly's team is her massive gyarados, who is able to fight Chewy on equal ground. On Velda's side, she seems to be able to make the same progress with a little difficulty. It is to be expected. She doesn't have as much experience as him or Vance when it comes to fighting in a mob battle like this. She had trained herself for this possibility, but she did not go through the same rigorous training that he and Vance were put through during their time in ACE. The fact that she can hold her own against Courtney on a battle of this magnitude of chaos already speaks volume about her skill and adaptability on the battlefield as a trainer.

Kratos is currently facing off a garchomp as the rest of Velda's team are systematically destroying Courtney's team little by little. Individually, it seems that Courtney and Shelly aren't that talented as trainers even if they are definitely Elite level in strength. What makes them dangerous are their ideologies and their ability to plan and carry out terrorist acts without anyone the wiser. What makes them a thorn on League's side is their ability to gather fanatic followers that fight for their cause and lead them effectively in battle.

They may not be as strong as him and his little girl in a straight-on battle, but their ability to lead their respective little cults is certainly terrifying. They certainly have what it takes to be an effective leader.

If only they can use their skills for a good cause.

"Courtney, I am going with that!"

Shelly's words got Griff's attention back to the battle. Courtney didn't reply to whatever Shelly had said, but what the two females whipped out next got his eyes widening in fear.

Key Stones.

No, anything but that. Velda isn't yet ready to face something on this level. She didn't have the time to prepare for something like this.

" **MEGA EVOLUTION**!"

* * *

No way, Mega Evolution is _real_?

A massive Earth Power split the ground as my team and I are forced to run for cover. We were making good progress in slowly wearing Courtney's team down until _this_ happened.

Mega Garchomp charged its way through while slashing violently with the scythes on its arms. Kratos moved to intercept the enraged dragon with Toothless backing him up, the both of them had immediately sensed how big a threat Mega Garchomp is the moment Mega Evolution was invoked. I don't know how much of a power boost Mega Evolution will give garchomp, but two of my powerhouses should be enough to at least stop it temporarily.

"Bigblue, Chill, Surf! Snap, Ness, trap them!"

Bigblue and Chill pushed back the rest of Courtney's team with a crashing wall of water as Snap and Ness used this chance to create a massive area of quicksand with their ground type techniques. The rest of my team picked off any of Courtney's pokemon who attempted to make their escape and threw them back into the sandpit. Kel, Rena, Joy, and Archer positioned themselves around me as my guards while I rode on Flamel's back.

Once I took out the rest of Courtney's team, we can then focus on taking the Mega Garchomp down. I don't know for sure how strong Mega Garchomp is, but I don't think it can take down my entire team by itself. From what I can see, Dad seems to be doing fine against Shelly's Mega Gyarados as he commanded Chewy. I am worried about him. He has only four pokemon on his team.

I need to end my battle as fast as possible so that I can go and help Dad.

"Jarvis, Lock-On. Chill, Mimic, then Fissure."

This is the combo that I thought of that will ensure that Chill's one-hit KO moves will always hit through copying Jarvis's Lock-On with Mimic. Chill isn't as strong as Courtney's Mega Garchomp, but Chill should be able to take out the rest of her team with this move alone. Sheer Cold can work as well, but in this case, Fissure is better suited for taking out an entire group at once who are already trapped in quicksand.

Chill gave a cry, and the ground opened up to swallow the rest of Courtney's team that is trapped in the sandpit before closing shut. They won't be getting out ever again. We had just sent them to their graves.

"Dual Chop!"

Mega Garchomp gave a violent slash that forced Kratos and Toothless to back off. Snap flew in and blasted Dragon Pulses repeatedly at it, only for Mega Garchomp to explode the ground surrounding it in a violent manner and forcing my team to scatter once more.

"Dolly, Lily, Confuse Ray!"

Our attempt to confuse Mega Garchomp was foiled as it fired a large beam of Dragon Pulse in our direction, destroying the attack at the same time. Mega Garchomp followed up with a Double Team, hiding itself in a sea of illusory copies.

"Dolly, Feint Attack! Find it!"

Dolly shrieked a reply before diving in to seek out Mega Garchomp, who easily repelled the attack with its huge scythes. Kratos charged back in to engage the Mega Garchomp, who used a Dragon Tail that actually managed to send Kratos flying away.

I have underestimated how much power Mega Evolution bestow upon a pokemon capable of undergoing that process. As of now, it seems that Mega Garchomp is more than enough to handle my entire team on its own when it can barely match Kratos earlier as a normal garchomp.

"Aim for the girl! Dragon Rush!"

Bigblue and Lily immediately rushed to stand in Mega Garchomp's way as Flamel dashed off with me on his back to safety. The rest of my team bombarded their attacks on the Mega Garchomp, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

"Outrage!"

I watched on in horror as even Bigblue and Lily were blasted backwards from the sudden explosion of draconic energy emitted from Mega Garchomp. Lily quickly healed herself and barely managed to get out of the way of Mega Garchomp's scythes. Toothless tried to stop Mega Garchomp's advance with his flames, but it doesn't have any visible effect. Hulk dashed forward and rammed into Mega Garchomp with a Body Slam, managing to get it to stumble for a short moment, but a slash of its claw slammed Hulk back into the ground in the next second. Hulk would have been done for if it wasn't for the combined efforts of Jarvis and Ness in firing their attacks at Mega Garchomp, buying some time for Hulk to get back to his feet and to safety.

"Hyper Beam!"

Mega Garchomp shot out a large beam of condensed energy and swept it in a wide arc around itself as we all scurried to get out of the line of fire. The ground underneath Mega Garchomp cracked and Kratos reappeared with an angry roar before closing his jaws around Mega Garchomp's right arm with a Crunch, hoping to render its limb useless.

A Brick Break from Mega Garchomp struck a critical blow on Kratos, whose armour actually dented from the impact. Kratos roared in pain but he wasn't deterred, instead opting to retaliate with a Payback. A Water Pulse from Bigblue slammed into Mega Garchomp at the same time as Chill unleashed an Ice Beam.

"Mega Garchomp, Incinerate!"

The combined attack was evaporated from the heat of the flames as Mega Garchomp zoomed out of there and crashed into Bigblue with another Dragon Rush. Bigblue fought back with a Counter, but it was defended against with Mega Garchomp's Protect. Lily tried to get her tentacles around Mega Garchomp but it dove into the ground with a Dig to make its escape before emerging behind me and Flamel in just a few seconds.

Flamel sensed the danger and immediately avoided the slash from Mega Garchomp's scythe with a powerful jump. Archer put himself in harm's way to buy time for Flamel and I to escape as he used an X-Scissor to hold off the Mega Garchomp. Kel unleashed her Prediction combo that managed to get Mega Garchomp to skid backwards slightly.

"Sand Tomb!"

"Kratos! Ness! Snap!"

My three pokemon immediately wrestled the control of the sand away from the Mega Garchomp as Bigblue flew in with a Battering Ram and knocked the Mega Garchomp off its feet. Seeing the opportunity, Hulk used a Superpower that punched the Mega Garchomp into the ground. Chill unleashed a Blizzard this time, hoping to freeze the dragon and take it out for good.

However, the crater where the Mega Garchomp once lay didn't have any signs of the dragon. It was then we realised our mistake.

It was a Substitute. We were all fooled.

Kratos immediately raised walls of stone when a barrage of Draco Meteors rained upon us from the sky. Each and every of my pokemon got into their defensive stance and pulled off a combined Protect. It was just in time too as the Draco Meteors broke through Kratos' rocks and blasted at the greenish shield they had put up with full power.

How can we bring this Mega Garchomp down?!

 _'Below! Watch out!'_

Rena's warning to us was a little too late as the ground below us suddenly exploded in a violent fashion that threw us all into the sky, forcefully scattering us. I was thrown off Flamel's back and I watched as _another_ garchomp burst out from the ground and head towards me with its jaws wide open.

I had miscalculated. I forgot to account for the fact that Courtney may have more pokemon than she had used to battle me.

The only thing I can do is to close my eyes and wait for my impending doom.

* * *

Torch really hate interacting with humans. They are a bunch of conceited beings that think that they are smarter and above all others. If it wasn't for the fact that he was born and raised in human captivity, he might have razed any humans he sees on sight.

Despite his personality and dislike for humans, Griff had never shunned him or treated him differently. For some unknown reason, Griff chose to train him out of the other torchics that were available and helped him grew into what he is today. For that, he will forever be grateful to this one human that he made an exception to his dislike for Griff's species. However, he had made it known to his trainer that he does not want to interact with any other humans if possible, something that his trainer obliged.

In the end, Torch ended up helping to guard the sanctuary on the farm, a place where his species alongside several others are kept on the farm in secret and away from others. The current leader of the sanctuary is an aged but extremely powerful sceptile, who accepted him and his quirks. According to Griff, his descendants' own sceptile and swampert will one day join them after countless moons after they had all passed on, just as their family tradition had dictated for generations.

It is what all of their forefathers had sworn since the founding of the land that they are raised in. Torch had taken the oath as well the moment he is able to understand words, so did the aged sceptile and the other little younglings here who will one day be given out to other humans before returning here once their future trainers passed on and their journey had ended. It will be a long time before that happens, but they will all return here eventually. Every single one of them will, no matter who they are given out to. They are all bound to their oath to do so.

Torch had never bothered to meet Griff's offspring although he had seen his mate before, but he had heard enough from passing rumours around the pokemon on the farm that Griff had two children and each of them are talented trainers. His dislike for any interaction with other humans surpassed the curiosity he has for the two children that Griff is so proud of. He can sense it from the way his trainer talks about them whenever they spend some time together on the farm.

Still, he stands by his dislike for the human species. He will not interact with any of them other than his trainer unless it is strictly necessary. He will not battle unless his strength is needed, that was the agreement he had with Griff.

Hence, it was a huge surprise when he suddenly found himself sent out for battle in the dark of the night in an unknown place. He knows how strong Fang, tropius, Frosty, and Chewy are. Griff is a capable trainer, he trained them so well that their strengths are at the pinnacle of their respective species. They are not weak. Why is his strength needed? Why is he being called upon?

"Torch! Save my girl!"

Torch immediately turned to where Griff is pointing at and saw a small human child being thrown into the air from an attack. A dragon is trying to snap her into two with its powerful jaws. The pokemon around her tried to get to her in time, but from what he can see, they were all forcefully scattered far away from her. They will not make it.

But he can.

With the use of Agility, Torch leapt after the young human child and immediately caught her in a split second, pulling her into his chest and away from harm before landing back onto the ground. Even for a pokemon like him that dislike humans as much as he does, harming a child is something that he will never do. His honour will never allow him to harm an innocent child no matter if they are a human or a pokemon.

"Bla-Blaziken?"

The young human child had a visible look of surprise on her face. Upon taking a closer look, Torch realised that she looks a lot like Griff's mate. This must be one of Griff's offspring.

The roar of the angry dragon behind him got his attention once more as Torch glanced backwards. The same dragon that was attempting to eat Griff's offspring earlier is now charging at him. The rest of the pokemon around them, who he assumes belongs to the girl, are trying to hold off another dragon of the same species but had Mega Evolved, trusting him to protect their trainer even if they had never met before.

Torch frowned. Mega Evolution is not something to be used lightly.

The pokemon of Griff's offspring seems to have things covered for now as they battled with what he finally identified as a Mega Garchomp, if his memory serves him right. In that case, he will handle the other one charging straight at him. He alone is enough to crush the dragon.

With the young girl still in his arms, Torch stood motionlessly and waited for the other garchomp to come closer. The moment the dragon got within striking range, Torch turned around and unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick empowered with scorching flames, sending the dragon crashing into the nearby trees with a single strike.

Torch let out an amused huff when he saw the awestruck expression on the face of the human child. He is sure that Griff had told him her name before. What was it again?

A large sea serpent, a Mega Gyarados, was slammed into the area near where the garchomp is. Griff rushed over with the rest of the team and Torch let the child down from his arms.

"Dad? What-"

"No time to explain. This is Torch, I just never got the chance to introduce him to you and Vance." Griff placed a hand on the child's shoulder before turning to him.

"Torch, we are doing it."

Torch dove in and punched the Mega Gyarados with a Sky Uppercut, throwing it into the air while shooting a Flamethrower downwards at the garchomp on the ground. He can feel the power from the Blazikenite he is holding onto getting stronger and he lets the power wash over him.

With a howl, Torch completed his Mega Evolution and used his new ability, Speed Boost, to continuously battle garchomp and the Mega Gyarados simultaneously. His newfound speed is enough for him to outspeed his opponents as the rest of the team supported him with attacks of their own.

A Blizzard from Frosty got their foes temporarily stuck to the ground in ice. An opening.

"Blast Burn!"

Torch unleashed the most powerful fire type attack in his arsenal and destroyed the two pokemon instantly, leaving them a charred and blackened mess. Even without the next command from his trainer, Torch knows what Griff will want him to do next.

"Vel, get your team away from the Mega Garchomp! Let us handle it! Torch! Engage it!"

Ah right, her name is Vel. That is the name of the female offspring that his trainer had told him about.

"R-Right! Guys, get back!"

The child's pokemon team immediately parted for Torch as Torch covered himself in scorching hot flames and collided into the Mega Garchomp with a Flare Blitz. The dragon screeched in pain and tried to bisect him into two with its scythes, but Torch's speed is too fast and Mega Garchomp's strikes are too slow. The dragon's attack will never connect onto him.

Torch rained a series of Fire Punch on the dragon, who is now forced to be on the defensive from the number of attacks hitting on it. A powerful Double Kick from Torch sent it skidding back to the dragon's trainer and another female human, who were about to escape and leave the dragon behind.

"Fire Spin! Don't let the other trainers get away!"

Torch unleashed another fiery hell upon the two female humans and trapped them in a circular wall of flames, cutting off their escape but not harming them. It will be enough to prevent them from going anywhere else. He dashed back in and knocked the dragon away from its trainer, preventing it from going back in to save them.

"End it!"

Using his speed to gain momentum, Torch smashed the dragon's head in with a High Jump Kick before wrapping his arms around its neck and slam it back down into the ground with a Seismic Toss. To be doubly sure that it stays down, Torch fired a Focus Blast on the fallen dragon, killing it with a single move.

Torch roared his victory into the night sky as he felt the power from his Mega Evolution receding. His battle is over, it is time for him to return back to his pokeball.

Torch turned around to face his trainer and saw the looks of awe that the child's pokemon team - _Vel's pokemon team_ \- are giving him.

 _'What? Never see a blaziken before?'_

 _'Wha? How? **How** did you evolve even further? How did you and that damn dragon do that?'_

 _'It's called Mega Evolution._ ' Torch briefly answered the question posed by the rock lizard and pointed to the item he saw the rock lizard held. ' _If you have that with you, you can undergo the process as well. I know your kind is capable of doing it. You will need the power of your trainer to achieve that though._ '

 _'I have been on the farm for many moons and yet I have never seen you before.'_ A fire horse commented from where he reunited with his trainer and stood by her side protectively. ' _Yet, you obviously are Griff's pokemon._ '

 _'I dislike humans. The only human who I respect is Griff. The only reason why I saved your trainer is because she is his offspring. If you guys still call yourselves your trainer's pokemon, learn how to better protect your trainer._ ' Torch scoffed and turned back to the rock lizard. ' _If you have that item, then learn how to use it. As of now, all of you are not ready to be facing a Mega Evolved pokemon. All of you are still too weak._ '

The rock lizard snarled angrily upon his words, but Torch didn't bother to bring himself to care. What he said was the truth. They are obviously well trained, but none of these pokemon can defeat him in a fight, he can easily tell that from a glance. He walked back to Griff's side, who got the cue and took out his pokeball.

"Thanks a lot, Torch."

 _'You better start on teaching your offspring how to invoke Mega Evolution properly. I won't always be there to save her._ ' Torch snorted a reply, although he knows that his trainer won't be able to understand him. Oh well, he should be smart enough to figure out his message.

Torch let his mind rest as he returned to the confines of his pokeball. He is still a little disgruntled at being called out for battle, but at least the battles were worth his time. Taking on two Mega Evolved pokemon today is a new record for him.

He just hopes that the girl's pokemon won't go and search for him on the farm to bug him further about Mega Evolution. The swampert might probably know how to seek him out in the sanctuary, but it knows that it is a secret that it is not allowed to divulge to anyone just yet, not even its trainer and the rest of her team. Hopefully, Vel and the other two opposing human trainers that they were fighting against will be the last humans he will see in a long while, his trainer not included.

His participation in battle today confirmed it once again, he still dislikes humans in general.

* * *

 **AN: First of all, I would like to apologise for taking close to a month to update. It wasn't my intention for this to happen, but no matter how I write this chapter, I am just not satisfied with it. In the end, I decided to put off writing IJWTTTW for a while and tried to focus on my other stories, only to find that I have hit a dry spell for all of them as well. For some reason, I just lost all inspiration and motivation to write anything for all of them and I don't know why.**

 **I still want to continue writing as the next month is probably the only relatively free month I have to write whatever I could before my life gets busy again. I decided to try and write some more new stories or plot bunnies I have in my head to get my inspiration and motivation in writing back. I wrote chapters for six new stories, but in the end only two of them are good enough for me to deem satisfactory and it was what I decided to publish and share to my readers. One of them is a new pokemon fanfic, "The Sun of Sunyshore", featuring Volkner as the oc. You guys can check it out if you are interested. The other one is a bleach fic titled "To Defy".**

 **I still regret the fact that it took me one month to get this out and I don't know if it is good enough. It had always been my intention to introduce Torch and Mega Evolution (to Vel) in this chapter and somehow the way I write it always turns out clunky. I think the way this chapter is now is probably the best its going to get at my current level. I decided to just go ahead with this because if I don't publish this chapter, then the story of IJWTTTW will never progress.**

 **On a totally unrelated note, not sure how many of you had gotten wind of the Pokemon Masters game, but I personally cannot wait for it to be released. The game looks extremely fun to play.**

 **In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry for the late update and many thanks for your continuous support in me and my stories.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Hydreigon (Chewy), male**

 **4) Glalie (Frosty), male**

 **5) Blaziken (Torch), male**

 **5) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **6) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **7) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **8) Ursaring (deceased)**


	41. Chapter 41- Friction

"Vel, take a break."

"But I'm _so_ close!" I gritted out as I bend down to rest my hands on my knees while panting for breath. "Kratos and I are so close to-"

"Learning how to Mega Evolve properly takes time." Dad said in a tone of finality, not allowing me and Kratos to continue practicing the process of invoking Mega Evolution. "It is not something that can be done in a few short days. People used to take years to even come close to invoking the process with their pokemon. The fact that you and Kratos learnt how to invoke Mega Evolution in a few days is already astounding."

"But Vance was able to learn how to do it properly in a single day!"

"And you are not Vance. You are a talented trainer, but you are not a warrior like me and Vance are. Your heart lies in exploring the unknown, Vance's and I's desire is to get stronger. The process of invoking Mega Evolution is a reflection of your soul and a manifestation of the bond you and your pokemon have. If you or Kratos don't desire the power, then you will never be able to use it to its full potential. If you or Kratos don't trust each other wholeheartedly, the whole thing will fall apart. You need the drive. The fact that you can sustain Kratos's Mega Evolved form for a minute is something that I had never expected. I had expected only 30 seconds at the maximum."

"But I desire this power! I **_need_** this power!" I said in frustration as Kratos very thoughtfully erected a chair made of stone from the ground for me to sit and rest. "I am sick of getting myself nearly killed all the time! I-"

"Vel, it's ok." Dad said in a comforting tone as he pulled me close into a hug. "It's ok. You and your team are already strong enough even without Mega Evolution, you just lack the same battle experience like we do. You are not weak."

"If only my body isn't like _this_." I said softly into Dad's broad chest as he held me close. "If only my body wasn't so weak, I could have allowed Kratos to stay in his Mega form longer. The fault does not lie with him, it's mine."

Kratos gave a grunt which I read as disapproval to my words.

"Your body's condition may be a huge part on why you cannot sustain Kratos's Mega Evolution for long." Dad admitted. "But staying in their Mega state can be damaging to the pokemon as well. There were records of pokemon overusing their powers from Mega Evolution when they are not yet ready to. The outcomes weren't pretty. I can still remember the time when I read about a case documenting a scizor that melted from the heat of the power, because both the scizor and its trainer overextended the duration of using Mega Evolution. Vel, I know it seems frustrating to you now, but I am certain that you will be able to properly utilise Mega Evolution in time. However, if you ever use Mega Evolution, make sure the battle is swift and decisive. End it within five minutes, or preferably lesser, if you want to ensure Kratos remains unharmed from the side effects. There's a reason why pokemon automatically revert to their original form after their battles. It is their body naturally trying to protect itself from further damage. At the end of the day, Mega Evolution is just a temporary boost in power. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I got it."

Dad led me back to the cottage we are temporary staying in Littleroot Town and I headed up to the room I am staying in to take a quick shower. The incident with the Battle Frontier had ended about four days ago.

I am still unsure on how to view this entire affair.

The main big news that the government is trying to get the media to portray and heavily emphasise is the fact that both Team Aqua and Team Magma are now gone for good. The main members that made up the core of the two organisations are either caught or killed during the swift counterattack the League organised as a response to the invasion on the Battle Frontier. All of the core members of Team Magma and Team Aqua are accounted for. Their main fighting force had been totally defeated and sent packing into prison without delay. The two terrorist groups are no longer here to terrorise us, which is good news.

The other side of things is that there are also casualties and a whole lot of collateral damage. The various Thirteen Pillars, together with their gym trainers and the whole of ACE had split themselves up to crush any known bases throughout Hoenn that Jarvis had located and some of these battles were destructive. The pictures shown on TV that displayed the aftermath of the battles the various Thirteen Pillars were involved in said it all. The siege on the Battle Frontier had also nearly destroyed everything there, although I know Scott and his Frontier Brains are working on restoring the island into its former glory. There are innocent people and pokemon alike who were killed in the invasion although I personally did not see any during my time there. Still, the casualties were surprisingly low due to how quick the psychics belonging to the Battle Frontier had reacted to the attack. For an island as big as the one the Battle Frontier sits on, the casualties suffered were surprisingly small. It only numbered to less than 8% of the casualties suffered in the Lilycove invasion. It proved that the countermeasures devised by the League in handling any surprise invasions were effective, but that did not change the fact that innocents had died, innocents that died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. **_I_** could have died. If it wasn't for Flannery, Archer, and Dolly responding to the bombs even before I could make sense of the issue, my life could have ended right there.

The public's reactions were also varied. Some are glad that the two terrorist organisations are now gone for good. Some applauded the Battle Frontier and the League for being effective in responding to sudden threats. Some blamed the League for not being able to find Team Magma and Team Aqua sooner, which could have prevented this second tragedy which they dubbed as the ' _The Second Lilycove Invasion'_.

Personally, I am just glad that they are gone for good this time. Maybe it is because I had experienced both the Lilycove Invasion the one on the Battle Frontier, maybe it is because I had seen a worse case of senseless deaths and destruction prior to this and is already somewhat desensitised to the violence, but the attack on the Battle Frontier didn't faze me as much as I thought it will be. I still have problems trying to forget about the images I had saw in the war which I was swept up in, but it is not as bad as I had expected. My nightmares about the Lilycove Invasion have returned, a problem which had disappeared about a month after the Lilycove Invasion but resurfaced after the recent one on the Battle Frontier. I have to employ the use of medication once again to force me into a deep slumber every night and I will continue to do so until I got better. Thankfully, even if I found myself in a nightmare despite the medication I had taken, they aren't as scary nor do they happen as frequent as before.

My pokemon's overprotective streak had returned in full force after the invasion. I know pokemon who spent a long time with their trainers are extremely loyal to them and will not hesitate to defend them with their lives, but I never knew how true that statement is until now. My pokemon are unwilling to return to their pokeballs unless absolutely necessary, fearing that the moment they got sucked in another attack will happen and they will not be there to protect me. If it wasn't for Dolly and Archer being by my side at that time, I might have been killed, so I can see their reason. The bigger ones opted to wander near the little cottage that my family are now staying at ( _with the exception of Vance since he is still busy in helping Scott at the Battle Frontier)_ , not straying far away from it so that they can protect me better if I need the protection. The smaller ones that can fit into my room are always near me. Dolly herself is always in my shadow and Archer is never more than five meters away from me. That is not counting members of my team like Rena, Kel, Fuzzy, and Joy. Even Jarvis is always dwelling in the nearest electronic device to my person, keeping a silent vigil and constantly making my life so convenient that there are times that I don't even need to lift a single finger to get what I want. As long as I needed to use an electronic device to do something, he will get it done for me even before I could say no. It's like he is trying to make me feel better after that unpleasant experience at the Battle Frontier in his own way. It's actually very sweet of him.

I don't know what I did to deserve my pokemon. They are wonderful and I love them for it.

The other unintended effect of the invasion is that our family is now even more famous than before. Dad, Vance, me, and even Mum, who is not a trainer, are now in the spotlight. Too many people had spotted us in action, and we cannot hide our contributions to repelling the invasion like what I did after the Lilycove Invasion.

On hindsight, we had really helped a lot in the invasion. Dad singlehandedly defeated and apprehended both Courtney and Shelly by himself. Mum and Holly were instrumental in bringing us to the Battle Factory in time to save it, thanks to Holly's mastery in Teleport. Holly may not be a battler, but her skills in using Teleport can even put some trained psychics to shame. She is the one who is constantly helping Mum and Dad run errands on the farm by teleporting them wherever they need to go. She had _lots_ of practice and our farm is very huge. During my stay at home to train for my conference, Holly had once taken me on a trip from Petalburg to Fortree in a single jump when Mum had asked for my help to run some errands for her. I had thought it was normal for psychics to be able to do that, but Vance had later told me that even well-trained psychics may not be able to do what Holly did. The longer the distance of the Teleport, the larger amount of power is needed and the increase in power requirement grows exponentially larger. The difficulty in using Teleport to travel from one end of a region to another is the main reason why teleportation had not taken over as our main mode of transportation and why using the Teleport services is so expensive.

There are also a lot of attention given to me and Vance. Vance had the public's attention because he is one of the seven trainers Scott had recruited. His vast experience from ACE in dealing with dangerous situations showed during the invasion. Tucker had confided to me that without Vance there to take command of the situation when the invasion just started, things might be a lot worse since everyone was still trying to make sense of what had happened. Vance's team had also wiped out a large group of magmas and aquas at the harbour. There were many witnesses there who had seen him in action and caught a glimpse of the power he wields.

I, on the other hand, had my contributions revealed against my will, since there is no way to explain how the League found out about the numerous Team Magma and Team Aqua hideouts without bringing me into the picture. Kratos is also too eye-catching with what he can do. He is the only known tyranitar able to freely control the sands and his species are rare to come by in the first place. Not that my other powerhouses are weak, but their display in the invasion certainly isn't as unique or as flashy as Kratos's. Combined with my recent participation in the conference _and_ also being a Vera, my 'fame' was boosted.

All of a sudden, the world was reminded once again about the Vera family, one of the founding families of Hoenn. We are one of the few families that still remain after more than five centuries of our region's founding. Many of the other families had either died out or disappeared for various reasons. Even my family, the Vera family, had dwindled. There is only four of us left.

None of us like the newfound attention, so Dad decided to bring us to our family's holiday home in Littleroot to hide from the public's eye for a short while, a quiet place that is partially cut off from the world with how secluded it is. Our family may be in the pokemon breeding business for generations, but the wealth our ancestors had accumulated over the years had got them extending their reach to other business ventures as well. Our family have many properties under our name throughout Hoenn. This holiday home is one of them although this is my first time here. I don't know the exact details on how Dad is able to manage so many properties when he is always so busy with the farm, but I do know that most of the time, this place is rented out to visitors who came to Littleroot for vacation.

After my shower, I decided to spend some time with Mum and knitted some things with her. I am against in calling my heinous creations 'clothes', since they don't even remotely resemble one. I had wanted to at least try and make some clothing for my smaller pokemon, but I only managed to somewhat succeed in making one each for Fuzzy and Joy since they are small in size. I found the two pieces of garments I knitted to be atrocious looking, but they loved it, so I let it be.

The worst part was that Mum decided to take a picture of Fuzzy and Joy wearing those sweater-like things I knitted for them, saying that she must document my first attempt at knitting. If it wasn't for the fact that Fuzzy and Joy seems to enjoy wearing them at home, I might have asked Flamel to burn it down for me.

In light of the situation Hoenn is currently facing and the fact that our Thirteen Pillars are now busy with damage control, the meeting I am supposed to be having with the other regions' Thirteen Pillars had been postponed for another week. I only just found out that our group is named as the International Police, although its existence is still currently a secret until we officially reveal ourselves.

Sometimes, I wondered if this is the same International Police that Looker from the Diamond/Pearl series was a part of? And if so, _did I just help create the International Police_?!

Me freaking out about this new revelation aside, the rest of my free time are now spent planning on what the newly christened International Police can and should do. It is also partly to get my mind off the images I had saw in both invasions. The members of our new organisation will grow in time, but for now, we need to solve the most pressing of issues with the limited manpower we have. The respective political leaders of every region had taken the responsibility to improve trade and political relations between each other. It is the best course of action they can take, since they know what is best for their own home for things not related to pokemon. Thus, the International Police is tasked with solving pokemon-related conflict on a global scale. We are a neutral entity. We don't belong to any region and our organisation falls under the Pokemon World League.

So, then comes the big question. What is the most pressing issue right now? What should the International Police first focus their efforts on?

Stopping the various terrorist groups in every region is the first thing to come to my mind. Helping Alola to set up some form of government and to help them establish their own conference is a second, although that might be stretching the International Police's jurisdiction quite a bit. If Alola wants to remain as an equal to the other six known regions, then it needs to start doing something. It cannot remain as passive as it is. At this rate, Team Skull will usurp the peace of the region without anyone knowing or doing anything to stop them. It has been allowed to run free for too long and it needs to be nipped in the bud before they grow too strong to be taken down, like how Team Magma and Team Aqua were.

Visiting Alola sounds like a nice idea if things go according to how I planned. I can go and visit Ajika at the same time. Maybe he can help as well. Dad will also be interested in acquiring more unique pokemon from other regions into our farm. We do not have much Alola pokemon on our farm since our regions are situated so far away from each other. Our main overseas business is mainly conducted with the Kanto and Johto regions with the occasional Sinnoh customers. We don't have much trade with Unova and Kalos, something which I don't understand why that was the case until I asked Dad. It was what prompted him to start thinking about such a possibility. He then decided to go to Unova to see if it is possible to set up trade for our farm with the region. He found Chewy there.

If I can somehow get myself posted to Alola as a member of the International Police, then it will be my first stop in travelling outside of Hoenn. It will be my first step in travelling the world.

I really am looking forward to resuming my journey.

* * *

 _'Kratos, stop throwing sand around. You have trained more than enough for today.'_

' _Enough_?' Flamel watched as Kratos dismissed his words with a snort and continued to refine his powers over sand. Only the bigger members of the team are present since the smaller ones are all in the little house where their trainer is resting with her family.

 _'Since when is 'enough' **enough** , Flamel? Vel nearly died on our watch, AGAIN!'_

' _We are all at fault here_.' Flamel admitted as he felt the same regret in not being strong enough to protect his trainer. ' _But throwing yourself into training to numb yourself isn't healthy. At least take a small break before continuing. Vel will worry herself over you if she sees you overworking yourself.'_

' ** _She_** _is the one that needs to stop overworking herself_.' Snap cut in as he paused in practicing his ability to shift the ground near him. ' _When was the last time she had a real break? The few moons before our conference? Most of the time she spent was on training us. That's not a break for her_!'

' _I don't think I can ever picture Vel taking a break_.' Toothless interjected as he landed near them, taking a short rest from perfecting his aerial manoeuvres. ' _It's like it is in her blood to need to do something. She will go stir crazy otherwise_.'

' _I can understand the need to be doing something, but Vel really needs to find something to do that does not put her in mortal danger_!' Lily swayed in an agitated manner as her tentacles flexed erratically. _'None of us here are weak, but yet she nearly died again with us around! I'm lucky to be able to live a second time, but Vel won't be as lucky!'_

 _'Was the first invasion you guys experienced that…bad?'_

' _Yes, Chill. It was_.' Toothless grunted out as his tail flame burned brighter uncontrollably for a second before going back to its normal state. ' _I was holding her in my arms as Fuzzy tried his best to prevent her from bleeding out. Bleeding from **her head** , Chill. At that time, it was my fault that she was so badly injured. Now, everyone of us here is at fault for not being strong enough to protect her_. _If it wasn't for Torch's jumping in to save her…_ '

' _I can still grow stronger_.' Kratos bit out as he didn't slow down his pace in controlling the sands. ' _Mega Evolution, that is what Vel and I are working towards now_. _If I can Mega Evolve properly, I can help to better protect her.'_

 _'Don't get too hasty, Kratos. Mega Evolution is not a joke. The drawbacks can be as great as the power it bestows, one wrong judgement is all it takes to kill you. It is not as easy as it looks. Torch had needed a lot of practice to get it done right.'_

' _That reminds me_.' Kratos's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to Bigblue. ' _You know all about the stupid fire bird all along, don't you? You weren't surprised at his appearance_.'

 _'I met him a few times on the farm. He's not the most agreeable fellow, but he stays out of your way if you stay out of his.'_

' _And **WHERE** did you meet him on the farm_?' Flamel pressed on. ' _Vel and I had been on the farm for many, many moons and yet we had never met any of your kind before no matter how we searched. Including Torch's kind and sceptile's. Just where are you guys hiding at on the farm?'_

 _'We aren't hiding. We live on the farm just as everyone else does. You guys just don't see us and you guys aren't allowed in the sanctuary anyway.'_

 _'The sanctuary?'_

 _'It is what we call the place where we are born. It is a safe haven for us regional starters, where only our kind is allowed entry. You guys had met Vance's sceptile, right? His sire is the current leader of the place. I cannot divulge anything more than this, so don't bother asking.'_

 _'And why can't you?'_

 _'An oath. All of our kind all swore an oath that we will keep this secret and bring it to our grave, including what little we know about Mega Evolution and the secret of our duty. We are not allowed to tell anyone, even our trainers, unless we have explicit permission. No one outside of the Vera family is allowed to even know about the sanctuary, let alone the truth of the duty we bear. The consequences are just that disastrous if the worst comes to pass. You guys will know about it when Griff decides to tell her more about the sanctuary. Until then, be patient.'_

 _'If you had actually told us about Mega Evolution, then Vel might not had been in danger.'_ Kratos hissed out. ' _Your stupid oath nearly killed her! If you know how to help me Mega Evolve properly, then spit it out_!'

 _'If the oath was broken, then all of Hoenn might be killed if someone got wind of what we are guarding. The farm isn't just there for show, Kratos. The farm is like a little region on its own with its own soldiers. There are things to protect. There is a good reason why generations of Vera all trained pokemon despite them not hailing from a family of trainers or not being one themselves. We need the strength. We do not need to be the strongest, but we do need to be strong enough to fend ourselves from any threats that might set their sights on the farm if they somehow know the farm's true purpose.'_

 _'But Vel is our **trainer**_!' Ness cried out in shock. ' _I mean, Kratos being able to Mega Evolve can help increase her chances of survival, right? Surely you can tell him a thing or two that you know about Mega Evolution!'_

 _'I am not insinuating that I would sacrifice Vel over my oath damn it_!' Bigblue snapped back in anger. ' _I am the second one to join her team! No one here is closer to her than me or Flamel! But I also have my own duties that were passed on to me by my ancestors! I cannot tell you about Mega Evolution without thinking about the consequences if such knowledge were to become widespread! If Griff didn't tell Vel about it, then it means that she was not yet ready for it! She still isn't! The only reason why Griff allowed Kratos and Vel to try using Mega Evolution is because there is no other choice now that the secret is out! Can you guys at least try to understand the dilemma I am facing?!'_

 _'I have enough of secrets_.' Kratos growled. ' _First the stupid prophecy, now this. Secrets can get us killed, Bigblue. I ain't trusting anyone with my back that knows secrets that can potentially save our hide, but yet not telling us any of them.'_

' _You think I **enjoy** doing this? Vel is my trainer and I am sworn to not tell her anything unless I am given permission! What about those of my kind, or Torch's or sceptile's kind who were given away to others but also knows about these secrets? You think they enjoy doing this? Keeping secrets from their trainers? But it is necessary! The fragile peace of the world might be broken if we just broke oaths willy-nilly because all we do is to **only care for ourselves**! This is why the prophecy even exist! Because humans just cannot understand that if minding only your own business isn't helping to solve problems, then maybe, I don't know, they should cooperate and start to care more than just themselves! You want me to divulge the secrets of Mega Evolution because you care for Vel. I can respect the devotion you have for her, but you have to understand that I cannot just tell you the secrets for that reason alone! Every pokemon cares for their trainers! Does that mean that I have to tell every single pokemon that comes up to me, demanding me to cough up whatever few secrets that I know about Mega Evolution as long as the reason they gave is to protect their trainers? I don't even know everything about Mega Evolution!'_

 _'I could care less about other humans_.' Kratos snarled. _'I don't care who lived or died as long as Vel survived.'_

 _'It is this mindset that proves to me that you are not yet ready, Kratos.'_

The two giants glared at each other without either party backing down. Sands swirled around Kratos as the air near Bigblue became humid, the starkly different effects brought about by their respective powers can be felt by all who are near them.

Kratos made the first move.

Waves of sharp jagged rocks traversed the ground and shot towards Bigblue. The water type simply stood its ground calmly. Even without Bigblue moving, the waves of rock spikes suddenly fractured and splintered into many tiny pieces. Kratos's attack was negated without Bigblue needing to move an inch.

' _A focused miniature Earthquake to shatter rocks? I didn't even feel that._ ' Lily commented as they all backed off from the duo. Bigblue rarely fought like that. He participated in the usual rowdy and friendly brawls, but never had he went all out in such seriousness before. Bigblue had always been the goofy, happy-go-lucky, friendly guy that can get along with anyone.

 _'I taught you that move, Kratos. You think you can best me with the things I taught you myself?'_

 _'Then eat this!'_

A huge wall of sand rose before Kratos sent it crashing down onto Bigblue. Bigblue simply froze the sands with a Blizzard and smashed into the frozen sands with a simple Mega Punch, breaking the iceberg into pieces.

A Dark Pulse blasted towards Bigblue's direction as Bigblue blocked it off with his own wall of stone. Kratos found a blue missile smashing into him at the very next instance. Bigblue had closed the distance with his own use of the Battering Ram combo.

A point-blank Focus Blast hurt Kratos as he roared in rage and threw Bigblue off him. Bigblue easily landed on his feet and fired a Scald. Kratos responded with a Stone Edge as he used it to lift Bigblue up violently, causing the Scald to miss its mark. Using this borrowed time, Kratos enhanced his speed with a Rock Polish and dove back into the battle. Bigblue took advantage of his immense strength to stop Kratos's advance, forcing Kratos to engage in a wrestling match with him.

' _Enough_!'

Hulk, which was silent the entire time, jumped into the fray and forcibly separated them with a Karate Chop. He grabbed both of them with one arm each, spun on his feet, and threw them away from each other with a Circle Throw.

 _'We are a **team**! Stop fighting like baby poochyenas! Do you want to make Vel sad with your fights? You know just how much she hates conflicts!'_

 _'Stay out of this, Hulk!'_

A Storm Throw was Hulk's response as the blow smashed Kratos into the ground, forming a huge crater underneath him.

 _'Until the two of you can talk out your differences instead of settling it with your fists, I will continue to interfere.'_

Kratos snarled furiously as his bloodlust rose. This time, the rest of the team that were watching can no longer afford to be a simple bystander. A furious Kratos has the ability to destroy anything within his sights. That cannot be allowed to happen.

Kratos tried to summon his sands but found them responding to him sluggishly, much to his confusion. That short frame of time got him another punch to his face, courtesy of Hulk, to get him to remain down on the ground.

 _'I took away your Sandstream ability with Entrainment. Your sands won't be as fast as you like them to be. Are you now calm enough to listen to words instead of throwing punches?'_

Ignoring Kratos's heated glare, Hulk continued.

 _'I know I am new to the team. I have no idea what you guys went through with Vel back in Lilycove but I can make an educated guess after looking at whatever had remained during my short time there. She nearly died back then, you guys think it was your fault. I get it. She nearly died again this time and now, it is our fault. Even with more of us around someone got the better of us and that damn dragon nearly ate her up. You feel angry at yourself about your repeated failings, I understand. Trust me, I feel the same way too. But this is not an excuse to play the blame game and then lash out at the most convenient target. Bigblue may be at fault too. I won't know since I have no idea what the whole oath and duty thing is about. But if keeping his oath is really that important to ensure the whole of Hoenn stays in one piece, then we can only trust his judgement. Most importantly, no matter what, infighting is the last thing we need! How can we protect our trainer if we ourselves cannot stay united? Let's say you managed to defeat Bigblue, then what? How does that solve anything?'_

Seeing as Kratos's temper had calmed a little, Hulk continued.

 _'Vel picked us for a reason, Kratos. I wasn't there when you joined, but I heard enough to know that you would have been eaten alive by the team if it wasn't for Vel's intervention. She does not discriminate between different species of pokemon no matter how useless other humans find us to be or how afraid they are of us. People shunned me because they were afraid of me. She picked me when no one else would. For that, I am eternally grateful. She picked you when everyone else laughed at your dream and mocked you. If you feel the same gratefulness I feel for her, then the last thing you should be doing is to create a rift on our team. This is not **your** team, Kratos. You are the ace here. No one will argue with that statement because you are just that strong. Right now, no one here can stop you one-on-one in a fair fight other than Toothless, perhaps. Bigblue could probably do so too if you somehow go full stupid mode and fight him on his own terrain. But point is, no matter how strong you are, this is not **your** team. We are **Vel's** team. You don't go around demanding things from us like we are your subjects. If Bigblue wants to keep his secrets because he feels that it is the wiser thing to do, he is allowed to do so. Get it?'_

Kratos reluctantly stood back up the moment Hulk's weight stopped pressing on him.

' _Uh… everything is fine? Bygones be bygones_?' Bigblue said awkwardly as he lumbered up to Kratos apologetically. ' _Uh, do we do a handshake or something? My flippers aren't that good at gripping stuffs. Maybe a, what was that called again? A fist bump?'_

' _Yea, everything's fine_.' Kratos mumbled as he took the figurative olive branch extended to him.

 _'Everything's fine now, so let's all celebrate with **A BATTLE**!'_

 _'Damn it, Chill! That was what we are avoiding in the first place!'_

 _'Huh? B-But-, Snap! A **BATTLE**! Toothless?'_

 _'NO! **NO** BATTLE! BAD CHILL! BAD, BAD CHILL! Come on, guys! Back me up here!'_

 _'Toothless is right. You cannot just start a battle out of the blue, Chill. Innocents can get hurt.'_

 _'Lily~! Flamel? F-Flamel! Don't walk away shaking your head! Don't ignore me, Flamel!'_

Watching as the rest of the team trying their best to stop Chill from losing control in her excitement, Kratos took some time to think about Hulk's words. Was he in the wrong? He prides himself as the ace of the team, the King among kings. He is the strongest on the team and stronger than many other pokemon out there in this world. This would not have been possible without Vel's help. Like Hulk, he is eternally grateful to Vel for giving him the chance to prove himself. He is thankful that he got himself a trainer like Vel who loves him unconditionally despite his shitty personality. He will do anything to protect her.

Was it wrong to demand the secrets of Mega Evolution from Bigblue? All he wants is to get stronger. Mega Evolution can grant him that power. He wants the strength that he knows lay dormant within him. He knows that he needs it if helping Vel take down groups of bad humans is what they will be doing for the foreseeable future.

He cannot call himself the strongest if he cannot protect his trainer. He cannot be King if his trainer comes to harm under his watch.

But Hulk does have a point. Kratos knows he is not the smartest on the team. Far from it. Compared to the rest of the team, he is as dumb as a rock. Fuzzy wasn't totally wrong in calling him Rocky or Rock Brain even if he never liked the nickname. All he knows are fights and battles, that is the only thing he is good at. Bigblue said that he and Vel are not yet ready to learn more about Mega Evolution. What if Bigblue was really right? He and Vel are barely able to invoke and sustain his Mega Evolved form for even a minute. Vel thinks that it is her fault, that her body is too weak to help sustain his new form, but he knows that part of the blame lies with him as well. There is something else that he knows he needs to learn before being able to properly use Mega Evolution. His instincts are telling him so. Bigblue knows about that missing something.

Is not realising what that missing something is a sign? A sign that he and Vel are not ready for this? If so, what can he do to be ready?

 _'Hey, you alright?'_

Kratos's attention was brought back when Ness spoke to him, an obvious tinge of concern lacing her voice. Ness may be as strict and rigid as Rena, but she has a motherly side that no one on the team has. That stuck-up Rena referred to Ness as the 'caretaker' because of Ness's tendency to mother them.

 _'Just thinking, that's all.'_

 _'If it hurts your brain that much, then leave the thinking to us. We will just point you in the direction that you need to be at to destroy whatever we need you to destroy. That is what a team is about, to compensate each other weaknesses with their strengths.'_

 _'Team, huh?'_

 _'Finally got through your inflated ego?'_

Kratos snorted as he held his head high. He is a King. He will not bow his head down to anyone but Vel. Even if he is in the wrong, he is the King, so he is right.

But he supposed there's no harm done if he makes a small concession.

 _'I guess as the future King of Mt Silver, I do need to learn how to work in a team. I will try taking into consideraton the words you guys are chattering to me about. For now.'_

Ness's sly grin got him to pointedly look away. He cannot stand her smug look and is very tempted to wipe it off her face with his sand.

' _Of course, **King**.'_ She said in mocking respect as she drawled out her words. He knows there's no bite in her voice, but his annoyance is reaching an all-time high.

Damn Ness and her smug look.

* * *

 **AN: I FINALLY HAD ENOUGH INSPIRATION TO GET RID OF THE MIND BLOCK TO WRITE OUT THIS CHAPTER! *insert excited Chill here***

 **I really, really wasn't expecting myself to leave IJWTTTW un-updated for more than a month but I really cannot find a way to write scenes to bridge the Battle Frontier Arc to the next big one. It was only recently when I reread several chapters of IJWTTTW and saw a few comments from you guys that I have several ideas on what I could write about. And so, I started working on it as soon as I had the chance.**

 **I already have a few ideas in mind about what could happen when Vel starts to travel for real. Things should be smoother for me when IJWTTTW finally reaches that stage (hopefully). I don't want to make empty promises because mind block is a very real problem I face every single time I tried to write something out.**

 **This chapter is one that slows the pace of the story down, but I feel that IJWTTTW probably needs it. It is just not possible to keep increasing the pace without stopping and it is definitely not wise to do so. I also think it is more realistic for Vel's team to have a fallout with each other every now and then because in even the most bonded of teams, conflicts do happen. Friction between each member does exist. I want to capture that friction since it is a problem that will definitely happen, especially so when the team had just grown so much bigger.**

 **In any case, I really hope this chapter doesn't bore you. I will try to make things for the next few arcs as exciting as what I hope for it to be (at least it sounds exciting when I imagine it in my head). Keep the comments coming, be it the good or the bad, because there are times where I do take your advice and several inspirations I had for this story, big or small, are actually taken from what you guys commented.**

 **Last but not least and as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**


	42. Chapter 42- What It Means To Be A Vera

"That would be all, Happy. Thanks for helping out."

The wobbuffet gave me its signature salute before scurrying off in a comical manner, eager to complete whatever chores are left in the house. He had helped me carried my camping gear into my room so that I can start packing it into my backpack and he was a great help. My body is frail and I don't have the physical strength to carry all of them at once. If it wasn't for Happy, I would have taken many trips before I could get my packing done.

Happy is the wobbuffet Dad and I met on Mirage Island. He was the one that led us and the Elite Four to their hideout there and watched us wiped it out. We don't know what it was thinking, but it had decided to follow us back home. Mum had taken a liking to the friendly wobbuffet and with his permission, captured it in a pokeball. Mum had named him Happy due to his cheerful attitude. Happy is a great help in the house and on the farm, often volunteering to help out with any chores Mum might need help in.

"Have you packed everything you need? Clothes? Food? Travelling gear? Toiletries?"

Mum entered my room at the moment I had just finished packing. I picked up my backpack and showed it to her, signalling that I had everything covered.

"It's not the first time I went travelling, Mum." I reassured her as she began to fuss over me like she usually does. "Relax, I got the least dangerous role all things considered. I will be safe."

"That's what your Dad told me the last time at the Battle Frontier before you two went Magma and Aqua hunting. And then you nearly got eaten up by a garchomp." Mum muttered darkly and I cannot help but shuffle my feet uneasily at the remark. I knew Mum had screamed Dad's ears off behind closed doors when he told her the truth on what had happened on Mirage Island. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Uh… Torch saved me?"

"You were _lucky_ that your Dad brought Torch along." Mum emphasised on the 'lucky' before Holly teleported beside us with barely a sound.

"Look, Vel." Mum said tiredly as she pulled me into a hug, as if afraid that I will disappear from the face of the earth the moment I am out of her sight. "I am a simple woman. I don't really care about politics and prophecies. All I want is for my husband and children to be safe and happy. I really, really, don't want you to be out there alone in this big, bad world fighting criminals and terrorists no matter how 'safe' it is supposed to be." Mum said the last part with an air quote motion of her fingers. "Still, you had a point. Your Dad also had a point. We cannot keep you safe forever and there is no way you will always be under our wings. There is bound to be a day where you would leave our protection to pursue your dreams. I don't like this, Vel. Not one bit. But I can accept it as something inevitable. This is bound to happen one day, and when that day comes, I want you to be as prepared as possible."

Mum gently cupped the sides of my face and made me look at her straight in the eyes.

"I have given this a lot of thought. If trying to save this world like a superhero is something you want to try doing, then I should be giving you my support as your mother. I shouldn't be an obstacle in your path. However, I have enough of you going through near-death experiences. If you want to go out there to help save the world, then I need to make sure that you are well-equipped to handle any situation. I am not a trainer. I cannot help you like what your Dad and Vance did for you. But I was a nurse. A pokemon nurse with deep knowledge on how to treat both injured pokemon and humans. What I can do to help you, is to impart you with the knowledge I had learnt. There are still a few days left before you head for the meeting. Holly and I will train you and Joy up to snuff in the basics by then."

"I-I didn't mean to worry you, Mum." I croaked out, only just realising how much I had worried her with my stunts throughout the two years I had been a trainer. "I-I…"

"It's fine." She reassured me as she ruffled my hair with a hand. "Everyone has to leave their comfort zone someday. Yours is just a little early than most." Her eyes then fixed on Joy, who is watching us not too far away.

"Call Joy here, it's time Holly and I impart to the both of you how to use the move Heal Pulse properly. Joy is still a cleffa, but when she evolves into a clefairy, she will be able to learn Teleport. Holly can impart some knowledge of using Teleport to Joy so that it will be easier for Joy to pick it up in the future."

"Thanks, Mum." I said softly to her, who merely smiled back in return.

"I _am_ your mother. Can't have your goofy Dad and brother teaching you everything you know, can I? I don't want to boast, but there's not a lot of pokemon that is better than Holly in using Heal Pulse and Teleport. Using those two moves is Holly's specialty. By the time we're through with the both of you, Joy would be at least decent enough in using Heal Pulse. I'm warning you now, I am a taskmaster. Holly and I won't be going easy on the both of you."

I gave her a cheeky grin in return.

"Won't have it any other way, Mum."

* * *

I held back a yawn as I walked out of the back door of our house that leads to our farm. It is in the middle of the night and I have no idea why Dad picked this timing to talk to me of all times. I saw a shadow in the dark night sky as it flew closer and closer to the farm.

"Vance?"

"Vel." Vance greeted me as he hopped off his salamence's back the moment they landed. "Dad called you out too?"

"Yeah. Didn't explain why though." I blinked in mild confusion. If even Vance was called back by Dad from the Battle Frontier at this ungodly hour, something must be up.

"I see the both of you managed to make it." Dad announced his appearance with Fang by his side. Where did he come from? Or was he there all along? "Recall all of your pokemon except for your starters."

Vance and I immediately complied. I can see Vance's shadow shifting a little and there is no doubt in my mind that Macky is there. Flamel stood by my side as at the rest of my team who were with me were recalled back into their pokeballs.

Something is up. It may be the timing in which Dad wanted to talk to us. It may be the seriousness in his voice. I have no idea what it is, but I just know that whatever Dad wanted to talk to us about in the dead of the night, it has to be serious.

Problem is, I have no idea what the topic of discussion is about.

Dad walked ahead with Fang by his side. Vance and I followed silently behind with our starters and shared a look, only to find that the other party definitely has no idea on what this whole thing is about.

I decided to break the ice.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"I have been thinking." Dad replied after a brief period of silence as he continued walking ahead. "I had wanted to put this off for as long as I could because you and Vance have too much on your plate as it is, but I realised that doing that is no different from running away from the incoming problems. My hesitance had nearly caused you to be killed by Courtney's garchomp. I won't make the same mistake twice. It's time the both of you learn for yourselves the true duty of the Vera house."

"The true duty of the Vera house?" Vance voiced out the questions in our heads with a puzzled look on his face.

"Our family crest. What does it look like?"

"A five-point star with an opened eye in the middle. Each point of the star has a word written next to it. It is our family's motto and values." I replied instinctively without missing a beat. "Care, Diligence, Honour, Respect, and…Duty…" I trailed off after reciting the last word.

"I remembered that you asked me once when you were still young, what the Duty part meant." I could not see as his back was facing me, but I can imagine a small smile breaking out on Dad's face. "You don't know how proud I was at that moment."

"So, uh, you are going to explain to us about that duty part now?" Vance asked in an uncertain manner. "Why wait until the dead of the night?"

"Because I don't want anyone else to see this no matter how small that chance might be. Not the workers working on the farm, and definitely not any outsiders if they somehow managed to catch a glimpse of it. Even your Mum had never entered the Sanctuary even if I had told her about it. If I have to go strictly by tradition, only the respective Heads of the Vera House are allowed entry to the Sanctuary. The members of the main family of the Vera house are allowed to know about its existence, but they also cannot enter unless given explicit permission by the Head of the Vera house. However, considering that we Veras consists of only four people now, I guess I can tweak the tradition a little."

"You are bringing us into the Sanctuary." I said without a thought. Sanctuary? What is it? I had never heard of such a place before that exists on our farm. Vance had always been the one slated to take over Dad as the next Head of the house, we all know that. I had accepted it too, since I have no wish to be the next Head of the house. I know that there will be secrets that will only be told to Vance but not me because of that, but I accepted it. But this? The Sanctuary? What is it?

"Correct. And we are already here."

I looked in front of me. There's no mistake. I had come here before many times even before I had met Flamel. After I had him, we spent a lot of time here too.

This is the great oak tree that Whiskers once made its home in. My grandfather's linoone had loved this place.

"Dad…"

"This is Whiskers' old home. Had it never occurred to you why Whiskers chose this place to make its burrow out of the many trees littering our farm?"

"I still don't see how this has any connection to our family's true duty." Vance said with a hint of confusion in his voice. "As far as I can tell, it is just a tree."

"A tree that Whiskers guarded until the end of his life. Arceus bless his soul." Dad said a quick prayer before turning to face us. "I never told you two that your grandfather had another pokemon, did I?"

"What?!"

Dad seemed to be extremely amused at the combined outburst given by me and Vance. Even Fang looked as if he is laughing at us from the way he is smiling.

"Your grandfather had a sceptile. An extremely strong sceptile at that. In fact, your sceptile is the offspring of your grandfather's sceptile." He directed the last part at Vance, who simply looked gobsmacked at the information dropped on him.

"Wait… what?"

"It is tradition for every member of the Vera house to receive a regional starter." Dad continued to explain as we crouched down and entered a hole that Whiskers had dug a long time ago between the large roots of the great oak tree. It is the entrance to where he had made his burrow and thankfully, it is just big enough for us to enter. Flamel struggled a little due to his larger size, but managed to enter the burrow nonetheless. The interior of the burrow is spacious enough for all of us to stand in the burrow without feeling cramped in the underground space.

"But you never gave me a treecko when I asked for it." Vance half-whined. "I had to sit for the stupid test to get one from Professor Birch."

"You would have gotten yourself one eventually if you actually bothered to wait. Vel got Bigblue, didn't she?" Dad replied dryly. "In any case, you got yourself one from the test. For us Veras, it doesn't matter how. As long as you received a Hoenn regional starter, that's when the duty of being a Vera started. It started late for me due to me trying to care for you two little hellions until you both are old enough to take care of yourselves, but every single one of us will raise a regional starter eventually. It is part of our duty to do so. I myself got Torch only a few years back."

"What exactly is this duty? It sounds like we have to do many things."

"It cannot really be put into words; it is something that I can only show you. If I have to summarise it, our duty is to guard and protect. As to what, let me show you. Fang, if you will."

Fang gave a bark of affirmation before he trotted to stand in front of a wall of the burrow.

And then an entrance opened, just like that. It is like something out of a fantasy movie.

"Secret Power. Interesting, right?" Dad said with amusement dancing in his eyes as he took in our jaw-dropped expressions.

"Wait, Fang knew how to use _Secret Power_ all along?! Don't you need to register with the League for your pokemon knowing this move? After what happened in the Lilycove Invasion?"

"By all rights we should, but we had enough sway in the League to convince them that there is no need for our family to register ourselves. Perks of being a Vera, as I always say." Dad called back as he entered the hole Fang had opened up. "Come on, it's time to introduce the both of you to the members of the Sanctuary."

"Perks of being a Vera." I heard Vance muttered under his breath as he entered the hole after Dad and Fang. "Knowing how to use Secret Power, one of the most elusive pokemon moves in history and not needing to register with the League? A great perk indeed."

Yeah, a great perk indeed.

The interior of the Sanctuary is nothing like how I expected it to be. How should I put it?

To keep it simple, it is like having another world within the space that Fang had opened for us. The Sanctuary has its own skies, its own forests, its own climate, its own lakes and clearings. It actually reminds me of the Narnia movie that I had watched in my previous life, a different world the moment you stepped through that cabinet. I don't even want to start to think just how much power and proficiency in Secret Power is needed for the pokemon that first created a hidden world as great as this. To create an entirely different world this vast with just one pokemon move is definitely not an easy feat.

What I wasn't expecting in this world is the number of pokemon living in it.

Countless number of blazikens, sceptiles, and swamperts eyed us the moment we entered. They are everywhere. The trees, the ground, the waters. As far as my eyes can see, members of their evolutionary lines dotted the space that we are at. There are no other species of pokemon here, simply Hoenn's regional starters.

"How?"

"Officially, our farm only has 8 swamperts, 6 sceptiles, and 4 blazikens. A lie, of course, but a necessary one. The League knows we have way beyond that stated number, but they allowed it. This is the core of the Vera farm, the reason why this farm existed in the first place. It is to hide the Sanctuary and to guard it. The regional starters you see here have only one duty, and that is to guard the Sanctuary and the farm. They are the farm's private army."

"We… We can't possibly train so many mudkips, torchics, and treeckos into their final evolutionary form. We don't have the manpower, especially so if no one else other than you knew about the Sanctuary." I stated the facts I knew as my mind ran a mile a minute. "How did they all managed to evolve?"

"I will answer that question shortly." Dad replied patiently as a red blur jumped from one of the treetops and landed next to Dad with a loud thud. A blaziken looked at us with its sharp gaze and Macky rose partially out of Vance's shadows in response, probably mentally gauging its strength and deciding if Torch is a threat. A small part of my brain helpfully supplies the fact that this is probably Vance's and Macky's first meeting with Torch.

"As Vel already know, this is Torch, my blaziken." Dad said nonchalantly while Torch only gave a grunt of acknowledgement. "He doesn't like human contact all that much, so I let him out here to help maintain order in the Sanctuary most of the time. Now, since we are already here, release Bigblue and sceptile. Torch will guide us to the heart of the Sanctuary."

Wordlessly, Vance and I released our regional starters. The two of them perked up the moment they recognised where we are at. Bigblue's reaction to our location is all the confirmation I need that he had been here before.

Flamel gave a little whinny as I climbed onto his back and followed Dad and Torch. Vance and his pokemon followed by my side. The crowd of regional starters around us parted to allow us to walk through although that didn't stop them from watching us. Some in curiosity, some in caution.

It took a while, but Torch eventually led us to a humongous but hollowed out tree trunk. I had never seen anything as ancient looking as this other than the desert ruins in Route 111. It has a hole as large as a human adult for its entrance. Prior to this, I had no idea if growing a forest within the space created by Secret Power is possible, but seeing the sight in front of my eyes showed me that even the most bizarre of things does exist.

A large sceptile swung itself down from the trees above and landed right in front of us in a crouching position, eyeing us cautiously with the blades on its arms already lengthened. Even I shivered a little in its presence. The amount of power this sceptile is unconsciously emitting is unreal. Imagine the power it will unleash if it got hostile and decide to attack us.

"Blades, these are my children that I told you about. Vance, Vel, this is your grandfather's sceptile, Blades. Your grandfather may not have been a trainer, but he was no slouch in training his pokemon. Blades is also the current leader of the Sanctuary."

Vance's own sceptile did a little hiss of greeting at Blades, who simply cocked its head to a side and hiss a greeting in return. Blades eventually straighten itself to its full height once again and retracted the blades on its arms to its original length when it finally decided that we are not a threat.

"When Blades reach the end of its lifespan, Torch will take over the role as the leader of the Sanctuary. The position of leader is decided mainly based on two factors: whether the pokemon has the strength to be one and also whether it had been trained by a Vera. Going by this tradition, after Torch, it will be Vance's sceptile to takeover that role. Bigblue may be a possible candidate, but Vance is the next Head of the house, so sceptile's chances to be leader is a lot higher. Vel isn't a candidate for the next Head of the house and Bigblue is definitely not as strong as sceptile, so the chance of Bigblue becoming leader is slim."

"I'm still confused." I admitted. "I don't really have a clue on what's going on."

"Come on in, then I will start explaining." Dad gestured for us to follow him as he entered the huge hollowed out tree.

Even without any visible source of light, the interior of the tree is dimly lit with a slight greenish glow. There is a huge empty space within the tree trunk and there is only one object in there, right in the middle.

Just right on top of a small wooden altar that looks older than all of our ages combined, a stone of some sort sits on it. The stone's size is roughly the size of my bag. It looks like a fragment of a meteorite to me, but I cannot be too sure.

"How do I start to explain this?" Dad scratched the back of his head with a hand with a small hint of frustration. "Alright, maybe I should do it the way my father did to me." Dad mumbled to himself after taking a few seconds to decide the best course of action. He pointed a finger at the rock.

"Vance, Vel, meet jirachi."

Cue the silence and the stares of disbelief we sent in Dad's direction.

" _You've got to be kidding me_." Vance blurted out as he pointed to the rock. " ** _That_** is jirachi?!"

"It is." Dad nodded his head to show us that we didn't hear him wrongly. "Jirachi only looks like a piece of rock right now because it is in a deep slumber. According to the legends, it is only supposed to be awake for seven days out of a thousand years. While it sleeps, a tough crystalline shell will cover it to protect it from enemies. I guess over the years its shell kind of dulled to make it look like a rock. That's just my guess though. Remember the eye in the middle of our family crest? Jirachi is said to have a third eye in the middle of its body. The design of our family crest is a reference to that."

"And why will jirachi be… _here_?" I asked in disbelief. "It could have chosen anywhere else to have its slumber, right? Why us? Why here?"

"It's a long story." Dad said as he gestured for us to sit on the ground with him. This is probably going to take a while. "It all started out a long, long time ago back during the warring states era, when the then Head of the house, Charlton Vera, found this rock which is in actuality, jirachi. Of course, he didn't know what it was back then, only that the rock was probably something very valuable. No matter how hard he tried, he just can't seem to break it, not even with his pokemon's help. It was then that he knew that he had stumbled onto something."

"People don't just _stumble_ into legendary pokemon." Vance said as he tried to wrap his head around this information made known to him. "They hide from humans for a reason."

"If we want to be technical, jirachi is classified as a mythical pokemon and not a legendary." Dad said as he got into his lecture mode. "Mythical and legendary pokemon are different. While legendary pokemon are, well, _legendary_ , mythical pokemon are merely a group of pokemon so rarely seen in the world that many people question their existence. Legendary pokemon are different. They are literal Gods. They are unique and there is only one of each of them. There can be more than one individual for a mythical, but there is always _only one_ legendary pokemon of its species. Like how our world only have one groudon and one kyogre. Many people lumped mythical and legendary pokemon together under the label of 'legendary' simply because sightings of them are so rare. The fact that most mythical pokemon are just a small step down from a legendary pokemon in terms of strength is also why many people confused mythical and legendary pokemon as one and the same. There are mythical pokemon that are almost on the level of legendary, like the darkrai species, but ultimately the darkrai species are not legendary pokemon. But I digress."

Dad made sure that he had our attention before he continued his story about our family's history.

"The rock was left forgotten until the person who would be our very first Hoenn Champion, Shozo Oshin, came to our family. Remember, it was during the pre-PWL era at that point in time. War was commonplace and there was no semblance of peace. Champion Shozo seeked our family's help to join them. Charlton agreed."

"Why did Champion Shozo need _our_ help specifically?" I asked in puzzlement. "He could have asked anybody else."

"Even back then, our family was wealthy and we hail from a long line of established pokemon breeders. Charlton was the first official Head of the Vera house in Hoenn's record, but he wasn't the one who founded the Vera family. That part of our family history prior to Charlton had been lost to time." Dad said as he shifted a little to allow Fang to rest his head on his lap. "Our family had always been good with pokemon. We have the knowledge and the natural talent to be able to befriend and tame them with or without a pokeball. We know what makes them tick, what we need to do to gain their trust. That is a scary power to be found in an individual. Remember, this took place more than 500 years ago. Pokeballs back then were very expensive, and the knowledge on how to craft one was a tightly guarded secret. Not everyone can afford a pokeball, only the truly rich and influential can. Even for our family at that time, only the main family were allowed to possess pokeballs. Back then, having a pokemon by your side is a sign of power, a statement of your strength. The more pokemon you have and the stronger they are, the more highly regarded you will be. We Veras numbered close to a hundred during the warring states. Imagine a tightly knitted group of individuals having that kind of power in an era where pokeballs were hardly seen or used. Our family had at least a hundred people, and every single one of them is able to befriend pokemon as easy as breathing when the average human at that time could only manage to fully tame a pokemon or two in their lifetime. How strong was our family compared to the rest of the world? How valuable was our family's strength to Champion Shozo? Think about it."

"Ok, I get that part." Vance nodded his head slowly. "And how does it lead us to where we are now?"

"The rest is history." Dad said as he stroked Fang's fur with one hand as the massive canine closed his eyes to take a quick nap. "With our family's support together with a few other influential families, Champion Shozo won the war and unite the whole of Hoenn under one single flag. Champion Shozo was fighting for unification and peace, an ideal that our family believed in. It was the reason why we supported his cause. The Stones did as well, so did the Draconids, and many other families whose names were lost to time and had gone extinct one way or another. 500 hundred years is a long time after all. As far as I know, we three families are the only ones who are left. The rest had faded into history somehow, including the family that was supposed to guard the orbs that was meant to control groudon and kyogre."

"You knew." I said in growing realisation. "You knew about the orbs all along."

"Along with other things that I probably shouldn't know." Dad admitted. "Each of us noble families are tasked to protect something that is crucial to Hoenn's safety. That is the true duty of the noble families. I know what each family is guarding just as they know what we are all tasked to protect, but that's it. That is the extent of the knowledge we know about each other's secret. Our respective Heads all agreed at that time that sharing anymore information with each other will be too dangerous if a leak somehow happened. Look at Lilycove. Team Aqua somehow got wind of an inkling of the orbs' location and looked at what had resulted from the mess. The Geist family had disappeared more than a century ago, they were supposed to be the ones guarding the orbs. No one knew the location of the orbs after the last of them passed away, so we can only assume that the orbs were placed at somewhere safe. But nowhere is truly safe to protect Hoenn's secrets unless there is a group of people that can be trusted to protect it. That's us, the ancient and noble families. This is our duty. We are crucial to Hoenn's continued peace and safety. We have to uphold the peace in Hoenn at all costs and to protect its secrets from falling into the wrong hands. At the same time, we cannot abuse the power we have. This is the duty and burden passed down to us from our ancestors."

"And our duty is to protect jirachi?" I asked with my throat feeling a little dry at the revelation and the implication of what he just told us. Anything to do with legendary or mythical pokemon is no small matter.

"Yes." Dad answered. "Shortly after the war ended, with Champion Shozo and the other Heads of the family around to help, it didn't take them long to figure out that the rock Charlton found was jirachi. Upon discussion with Champion Shozo and the Heads of the other noble families, they came up with this Guardian System, where each of the founding families will be tasked to protect one of Hoenn's vital secrets. How they go about doing it is up to them, but they all agreed that secrecy is of the utmost importance when it comes to dealing with legendary and mythical pokemon making their home in Hoenn. The way each family chooses to guard their secrets is only privy to their own members. Nothing is to be recorded about the discussion, everything they knew can only be passed down by word of mouth from the current Head of the family to the next. The same goes for our Regional Champion. Steven will learn of it in time, although he already would have known most of it as the next Head of the Stone family. His family is guarding another vital secret for as long as we have, the key to awakening the legendary titans."

"Why couldn't we just… destroy the secrets?" Vance asked. "The best way to keep secrets is to make sure no traces of it can be found, right?"

"And what if we ever need the powers of the various legendary and mythical pokemon that called Hoenn their home?" Dad directed another question to Vance. "Like fighting a war with the other regions? We know for a fact that Johto is able to call upon their legendary beasts in their time of need. Unova are able to control their forces of nature trio to a certain extent. Hoenn needs the same kind of firepower to protect itself from such a calamity. Discounting jirachi, we only have the weather trio, the legendary titans, and the eon duo. Groudon and Kyogre are near uncontrollable when the Geist family had gone extinct. They don't take orders from anyone that is not a Geist. The Draconids are guarding Rayquaza, but the sky dragon stays up in the stratosphere most of the time and rarely comes down. The legendary titans want nothing more than to remain in their slumber. The eon duo doesn't stay at a fixed place, and you can maybe only spot them once or twice every century. Who else is able to help protect Hoenn in our times of need? We need to have a way to find or summon them if the worst comes to pass. They are our last resort to protect Hoenn."

"To think that every region has a way to summon their regional legendaries or mythical pokemon... if a world war does break out…" I muttered darkly under my breath. I don't even want to think about the damage that will be wrought upon the world.

"It will be the end of the world. But that's what you are trying to prevent, Vel. If it means helping to uphold the peace and security of Hoenn, then we noble families have a duty to help you. Everyone is in on this, you are not alone." Dad reassured me as he places a hand on my shoulder. "I had managed to finally come into contact with the elusive Draconids, they are also helping in their own way."

"So this Sanctuary, it is the way our ancestors devised to help guard jirachi?" Vance asked upon understanding the train of thoughts our ancestors took.

"Our families are the only ones who were able to properly tame the regional starters even as far back as 500 years ago." Dad recounted the story told to him by our grandfather. "Their species hold untold power among the pokemon in our region. If trained right, each of them can be an unstoppable force individually. Our transactions with the League are not just purely business in nature. As part of the agreement our family had with Champion Shozo to bolster Hoenn's military strength, we will help Hoenn tame our regional starters and give them out to promising trainers. We will also provide pokemon from our farm to the League regularly so that our region's pokemon army will never run dry."

"And the regional starters just… accepted that?" I asked as I glanced back to Bigblue, who is resting next to me.

"Jirachi is too critical an asset to be left unprotected. It is something that the regional starters understand, and they too don't want to have their homes destroyed simply because jirachi's power was misused. 500 years back, the regional starters took an oath to help us Veras protect jirachi and we took an oath to help protect them in return. I have no idea how Charlton convinced them to do so, but the regional starters had kindly agreed to lend us their strength to help protect one of Hoenn's greatest secrets, jirachi. Jirachi's powers can be devastating, especially so when it has the ability to grant any wish at the peak of its power. Its existence must be kept a secret and it absolutely must be guarded with the highest level of security we can provide. That was the reason why we built our farm in Petalburg when our family settled down in Hoenn permanently, where there is enough land for us to build a farm as large as ours. It was why the League stationed a Gym Leader here when we first founded the region, so that he or she can help us if we ever need it together with the gym trainers. All of these arrangements were done so that we can have a private army on the farm that is strong and large enough dedicated to protecting jirachi, with equally strong trainers from the gym to help us if things ever got that bad. But like Vel had pointed out earlier, it is impossible to train so many of the regional starters with the amount of manpower we have. For secrecy sake, Charlton had also decreed that only the main family can freely enter and exit the Sanctuary. If only the main family are able to enter the Sanctuary, how do we go about training their species up to snuff to help protect jirachi?"

"T-The sponsored trainers." I croaked out the moment the realisation hit me like a speeding train. "There are always a few sets of Hoenn regional starters given out to sponsored trainers every year, who must be Hoenn locals to qualify for the sponsorship. Assuming the average number of starters given out every year is about six, and multiply it by about 500 years, we would have trained 3,000 starters throughout these 500 years. Of course, deducting the pokemon who have passed away from old age or whatever reasons, at the bare minimum, we would at least have a hundred fully evolved and trained regional starters hiding on our farm to guard jirachi. Considering their species' individual firepower and multiply it by a hundred, even an army would be hard pressed to take them on. This is not considering the other pokemon that we have on our farm. But how did we take back the regional starters that we had given out in the first place?"

"A legal agreement." Vance spoke out softly as his sceptile did a soft hiss behind him. "When I first received sceptile as treecko, I had to sign an agreement similar to what the other sponsored trainers did to be able to even receive him. I remember the terms on the contract. Upon my death, sceptile would be returned to the farm for "security purposes" and also to ensure that there are enough regional starters left to breed, to ensure the continuity of their species. I didn't pay it much mind back then, because I am a Vera and I would take over the farm someday, so that particular clause wouldn't affect me. But for the other trainers, it would have an impact. When their regional starters returned to us back to the farm, they would be fully trained. They will be ready to help defend the farm if the need ever arises. This is the method our ancestors had secretly came up with to help safeguard jirachi. If we cannot train them ourselves, we get somebody to help us with the job."

Dad gave us a soft smile.

"You two got it in one. I'm proud to call the both of you my children." Dad said with pride as he looked at the both of us, who are still shaken at the severity of the true duty that our family was burdened with since the founding of Hoenn. "This is not an easy responsibility to bear, but someone has to do it. I don't know if other regions use the same Guardian System as we do, but frankly that is none of our business. We don't know for sure when jirachi will awaken, but based on our best estimates, it will probably be sometime during your generation. I might still be here when it happens, or maybe I won't. I don't know for sure since no one has kept any proper records on when jirachi was last awake. All I know now is an estimate of when it _might_ wake up."

"And what do we do if it ever wakes up?"

"Protect it for the seven days when it is awake, for it will be when jirachi is at its most vulnerable." Dad replied in a heartbeat. "Anyone with nefarious thoughts who got wind of jirachi being awake will stop at nothing to have their wish being granted. It is our job to prevent that from happening. That job will fall on your shoulders, Vance."

"I know. I will make sure I am ready when that day arrives." Vance made a promise as he glanced back towards the rock. We still have trouble believing that right beneath that layer of stone lies a sleeping mythical pokemon, but we have to accept the fact as it is.

After a short while, Vance spoke up again.

"Did jirachi, like, grant any wish before? Even in its slumber? I mean, usually a powerful pokemon will be leaking its powers everywhere, right? Just look at Blades. Maybe jirachi had accidentally granted a wish or two even in this state? Or maybe we get some special treatment from jirachi as thanks since we had been guarding it for centuries?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about this." Dad said as he scratched his chin. "A few years after you were born, your Mum and I do want a second child and we wanted a girl. We jokingly said that we might as well make a wish to jirachi to grant us one. It was supposed to be a joke, since jirachi is supposed to be asleep and unable to hear anything. Then, about two months later, your Mum found herself pregnant with Vel. We got ourselves a girl."

"You mean I am the by-product of a **_wish_**?!" My voice raised a few octaves higher at this revelation. Like, come on! Don't tell me this is how I came to be here!

"Woah, calm down, Vel. Your Mum and I honestly think that this is just a coincidence. There's no way jirachi is involved in your, uh, making. You were... _100% naturally conceived_. It's not like our ancestors haven't tried experimenting if jirachi is able to grant wishes even in its slumber. None of their wishes came true, even the very minor ones. We are almost certain that jirachi is unable to grant any wish in its slumber."

I cast Dad a sceptical look. I don't know how exactly I came to be here and I have stopped questioning it a long time ago, but talking about _jirachi_ of all things opens up many more possibilities that I haven't thought to explore before. If my reason for being reincarnated here was because Dad and Mum _wished_ for a daughter and jirachi just so conveniently _happens_ to be in our farm…

Honestly, it doesn't matter how I came to be here. I'm glad I came. I'm glad that I am able to live a second life with such a loving family. Whether jirachi was involved or not shouldn't matter to me.

I will just live my life exactly how I want it to be.

"I think the two of you are strong and mature enough to be entrusted with these." Dad spoke up as he handed us a stone each. A _Mega Stone_ each.

"That is a swampertite and a sceptilite. I myself hold a blazikenite. Our family are allowed to hold these three Mega Stones because we are the ones that has the deepest connection with Hoenn's regional starters. The stones have been with us since before Hoenn's founding, passed down from one Head of the house to the next. Vance already knew how to invoke Mega Evolution from his time in ACE, and I already taught Vel how to properly use this power. All you need to do now is to train yourself and your regional starter how to use this power to its fullest extent. Your own regional starter would probably know a thing or two about Mega Evolution. It will make the process easier."

Bigblue let out a low rumble from his throat beside me as I let him hold onto the swampertite. He took it gently from me, looking at the object as if worshipping its very presence.

"Fang and I will get you two started on helping your starters to learn Secret Power tomorrow morning. It's easy to learn, so I expect Flamel and Macky to be done by lunchtime. All they need to practice in is the speed in using it, how to open existing space, and how vast they are able to create the space. Other than that, there's nothing particularly hard in learning Secret Power. Remember, only your own starter and regional starter are able to learn this move. I don't want you two to go about teaching every pokemon on your team Secret Power or for any of your pokemon learning this move from Flamel, Macky, Bigblue, or sceptile. Secret Power itself is supposed to be a guarded secret. Things will go awry if the trick behind learning Secret Power somehow gets out since we cannot control what our pokemon does after our deaths. The lesser who knows the trick behind Secret Power, the better. Make sure your team knows about this. Make it an explicit order if you have to."

"Even I will learn how to teach Secret Power to pokemon?" I asked in slight hesitation. "I'm not the next Head of the house, is that alright?"

"There is only four of us left now, Vel." Dad said in reply. "There's no longer any point in distinguishing between the next Head of the house and you since it is just Vance and you left in running the farm and guarding jirachi. Don't concern yourself too much with our family tradition, some traditions are meant to be broken if we want to move past obsolete rules put in place during a time so different from ours."

Dad stood up and dusted himself as Torch and Fang stood by his side. He waved to Blades, who hissed something back before jumping back to the treetops and disappeared from view.

"I think the both of you probably have a lot to think about and digest. Let's head back for now, we can revisit this topic some other day when your minds are clearer."

I took one last look at jirachi before I left, who still looks like a piece of metallic rock no matter how I view it. What Dad casually told me about he and Mum made a wish as some sort of cosmic joke about having a daughter sparked a memory in me.

I remembered that my sickness suddenly got better in a single night when I was nine years old. There was no reason as to why, even the doctors were baffled by my sudden improved health. They were unable to offer any explanations. I remembered the day when I was suddenly free of the frequent coughing that plagued me. I remembered just the night before, I was grumbling to myself how I wished for a healthier body as I coughed myself to sleep. I never forgot about it, because I have no idea why my illness suddenly got better even if this is my own body that we are talking about.

I have no concrete proof, but I have a feeling that jirachi is behind it. Dad said that our family had tried for a long time to check if jirachi has the power to grant wishes even in its slumber and they are sure that it does not have the ability. Is that really true? Is my sudden improved health when I was nine a sign that jirachi is awakening soon? How soon? Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? Dad did say that jirachi is estimated to awaken within my and Vance's generation. It will happen eventually.

If jirachi was indeed the reason behind my sudden improved health, if even my small grumbling of a wish was somehow granted even if I have no idea how jirachi heard my wish in its slumber, then I cannot begin to imagine just how devastating it will be if someone wishes for the end of the world using jirachi's powers when it is fully awakened. According to the legends that I know of, jirachi's powers grow stronger the closer to the day of its awakening. The scope of the wish, the type of wish it can grant, and to what extent can the wish be fulfilled depends on how much power jirachi currently has. My illness wasn't completely cured, but it was improved so much that I was able to stay outdoors and eventually able to travel by myself. My illness was supposed to be incurable, a fact that remains true to this day, but the fact that my condition had improved drastically in a single night without any explainable reason suggested that an external force was at work.

Now that I know of its existence, I believe jirachi is the external force. It was the one helping me with my wish with what limited powers it currently has. Whether it was by choice or accident I wouldn't know, but I am grateful to it if it was indeed the one helping me with my sickness.

It still doesn't change the fact that Jirachi's awakening feels like an ill omen, like a sense of foreboding especially when you consider the contents of the prophecy that we are supposed to fight against. The end of the world can be realised in many ways, and my family is tasked to protect one such way to ensure that jirachi won't be the reason for the destruction of the world that we know. We cannot allow jirachi to fall into the wrong hands.

Like Dad had reiterated many times, we will have to protect jirachi at all costs. That is our duty as members of the Vera house.

* * *

 **AN: Just a chapter so that I can drop by and say hi, that I am still alive and I am not dead, and to continue the progress of IJWTTTW.**

 **First off, sorry for the lack of any updates for IJWTTTW and for the rest of my stories in general. School had started and life had gotten busy once more. My grades are in shambles and it is bad enough for me to be placed on academic notice. I will be removed from school if I don't show any further progress. With that in mind, I probably won't be actively posting anything until this semester is over. I might be able to squeeze out a chapter or two whenever I have the time, just don't expect it to be frequent. I know there are probably a bunch of emails in my inbox by now that I probably will never go around to respond until the end of the year. Sorry about that in advance, I didn't mean to ignore the emails.**

 **Now, back to the story.**

 **A part of why it took me so long to write this chapter is because of the large amount of info in it. I had to reread this chapter over and over again until I felt like puking whenever I read it. The first draft of this chapter was confusing and editing it to make it easier to understand was a nightmare. I don't want to make this chapter feel like an information dump, but yet this chapter is also important in building up what is to come. In my opinion, a pokemon story would not be a pokemon story if no legendary or mythical pokemon is involved, and I think it is high time I start to introduce them into the story proper.**

 **Another part of the long wait is also because I am not satisfied with this chapter. In fact, I haven't been satisfied with any chapters I wrote for any of my stories in quite a while. I haven't felt the spark, the joy in writing a satisfactory chapter for a long time. Nowadays, it always felt as if something is missing, or something is not good enough, or I didn't stress something enough. But I know I will just keep running circles on the same spot if I don't do something, so I just decided to do the best I can, take the leap of faith, and post the chapter while praying that I didn't just ruin anything.**

 **The last reason is because I want to build the plot of the Sanctuary to tie in with what I mentioned about it in the previous chapters and to show its significance in the later chapters. Doing that is harder than it sounds, and I have to be very careful with how I described the Sanctuary. I have plans for the Sanctuary, which I am still working on.**

 **An idea had been bouncing in my head for quite a while, and I want to get some feedback from you guys before deciding if it is a worthwhile cause to pursue. I don't know how many of you had read my other pokemon fanfic, The Sun Of Sunyshore, but I am getting gradually receptive to the idea to tie the two stories together. The setting of the world of both stories are similar enough for me to do so, and I think it would be an interesting idea for two reincarnated souls to meet. Of course, for those who do not like TSoS for whatever reasons, I will not force you to read it to know what is going to happen in both stories. IJWTTTW will be Velda's story first and foremost and TSoS will be Volkner's story. They each will have their own stories that make it unique. If I do go through with this arrangement, I will try my best to ensure that anyone can read through IJWTTTW or TSoS alone without needing to reference to the other story. If I really decide to do this, I will make it that both IJWTTW and TSoS can be a standalone story on its own, but also able to merge into one big story together if you are fans of both stories. It will be challenging, but I think it can be fantastic if I pulled it off. I don't think any other authors had done this before other than maybe the author of Pedestal? I can't really remember if I got my facts right and it has been a long time since I had read that story.**

 **Let me know what you guys think about this arrangement because it definitely will affect many things. For one, I will have to sync the updates of both stories so that the release of a new chapter of IJWTTTW won't spoil what is going to happen next on TSoS and vice versa. That also means that TSoS will have a lot of catching up to do considering how far behind the story is as compared to IJWTTTW. If the majority of you guys dislike it, I will take that into consideration as well.**

 **Since I haven't had time to write anything, I had taken to try and read any new stories I can find in my sparse free time. By new stories, I mean those as that were recently published. Brand new stories. There is one thing I really want to share about these stories and thank you guys about.**

 **Thank you for saying that I was your inspiration.**

 **You have no idea how warm it made my heart feel when I read in the author's notes of these stories that "This story was inspired by BANIX…" or similar statements attached to it. I did find many elements that were from IJWTTTW or TSoS, and it was not a rip off or plagiarism (ie Copy and Paste), but rather an attempt to take a certain concept and adapt it to your own. It made me happy that you guys enjoy living in the pokemon world that I had envisioned and built up. It made me feel as if whatever I enjoy doing had left an impact on you guys.**

 **Thank you.**

 **In any case, thank you for being patient with me and also being so supportive. This will probably be the latest chapter in a long while as I go and try and pull my abysmal grades up, and hopefully this is interesting enough to keep you guys glued to IJWTTTW. Also, do remember to comment if you are receptive to the idea of a combined world of IJWTTTW and TSoS, and if possible, why. I won't be angry or anything if you guys say no, I just want to know the general consensus behind the idea.**

 **As usual, hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thank you for your support in IJWTTTW thus far.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **Griff Vera, Age: 42, Male, Owner of Vera Pokemon Breeding Farm, Husband to Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Father to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Mightyena (Fang), male**

 **2) Tropius, male**

 **3) Hydreigon (Chewy), male**

 **4) Glalie (Frosty), male**

 **5) Blaziken (Torch), male**

 **5) Ninjask (deceased)**

 **6) Ludicolo (deceased)**

 **7) Zangoose (deceased)**

 **8) Ursaring (deceased)**

 **Hanna Vera (formerly Springfield), Age: 42, Female, Former pokemon nurse, Wife to Griff Vera and mother to Vance and Velda Vera**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Gardevoir (Holly), female**

 **2) Wobbuffet (Happy), male**

 **Other notable mentions:**

 **Velda's grandfather, name unknown**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Linoone (Whiskers, deceased)**

 **2) Sceptile (Blades)**


	43. Chapter 43- Haunted Encounters

"Now _where_ did I put it?" Hanna mumbled to herself as she searched through her messy workspace where she was sure she had put her pencil here somewhere. It's usually either at the right edge of the table or on one of the shelves, but her trusty mechanical pencil that she had been using for more than a decade and couldn't bear to part with just suddenly couldn't be found.

"Happy? Holly? You guys saw my pencil anywhere?" Hanna turned around to ask her two pokemon companions, who replied with a negative.

There was a sound of footsteps and her daughter's voice could be heard even before she could be seen.

"Mum? Are you in there?"

"Yes, Vel." Hanna replied as she stood up and opened the door to her office room on the farm. Her daughter walked in carrying an assortment of random items in her arms, piling up so high that it nearly covered her entire face. An absol walked by Velda's side, its footsteps not producing a single sound.

"You should have just let your pokemon carry some of those for you. You can barely see what's in front of you." Hanna told her daughter as she immediately helped to take some of the load off Velda's arms. Happy and Holly immediately helped as well.

"Those who have arms to help are a little too big to fit through the doors." Velda shrugged as she dumped the random assortment of items onto the table and Hanna immediately sifted through it.

"Aha!" Hanna exclaimed in delight when she found her shining blue mechanical pencil again. "There you are!"

"This is getting irritating." Velda stated with a slight frown on her face. "Everything just suddenly appeared in my room and nobody knows how it got there."

It is a weird phenomenon that only started about two days ago. Random things from the farm just suddenly went missing during the night and ended up appearing in Velda's bedroom the next morning. They had thought that it was just a prank from Dolly at first, but Dolly had vehemently denied all accusations. They thought nothing about it until the same thing happened again the next morning, and then it happened again today.

"It must be the work of a ghost, or ghosts." Velda noted as her hands dug through the pile. "No other pokemon can slip past Rena's senses so easily."

"Where's Rena, by the way? She's usually with you." Hanna asked in mild curiosity. Her daughter's espeon hardly ever left her daughter's side.

" _Out hunting for ghosts_." Velda said with an air quote motion of her fingers. "Fuzzy and Dolly are with her because they think it's fun. I honestly think that they won't have much progress on the issue because those two are more likely to create trouble than to be of help."

Kel made a soft snort at the words spoken by her trainer.

"It's strange. The only ghost who ever appeared on our farm was Macky and that was years ago." Hanna pondered on the issue for a little while before dismissing it. Ghosts cannot be bred and kept on farms for the simple fact that most of them have the ability to simply phase through walls. Those who can't simply snuck out using the shadows or through some other unique ability. Nothing short of a pokeball can properly contain them. Ghosts can only be caught in the wild or given to someone by another trainer, that's how most trainers got themselves a ghost.

So why is there a sudden surge of increase of ghost activities around their farm? Something like this is definitely not normal. The only lucky thing is that the ghosts that lurked around the farm and in their house thus far doesn't seem to exhibit any vicious or violent tendencies that they are notorious for displaying.

Nobody knows how many and what species of ghost had suddenly decided to take residence on their farm, but they can make an educated guess from the various weird happenings that they had experienced thus far. The culprit behind depositing a large number of random objects in Velda's room is probably a sableye, since all the objects have only one common characteristic: they are shiny. Sableyes love shiny objects.

The ghost responsible for waking them up in the middle of the night by giving a high pitch scream is probably a misdreavus. The feeling of them being watched from behind but always momentarily disappear when they turned around only to find nothing is probably a duskull or a dusclops. From past experience they have with raising Macky, the slight dip in temperature they felt on random occasions is probably a work from something of the gastly line.

There are many other weird happenings currently going on in the Vera Farm, but above mentioned are currently the ones giving them the most problems because they are happening right in their very house. The employees only occasionally experience a random unexplainable weird encounter or two when they come for work everyday, but that's about it.

At least they don't have to deal with random wailing noises coming from their living room in the middle of the night that disrupted their sleep schedule. This is getting downright annoying.

Griff walked into the room at this moment, Fang walking behind him in that usual playful manner of his.

"Any findings?" Hanna asked her husband, who merely responded with a sigh that told her everything.

"The only affected areas are the pokemon groups that are living closer to our house who are also missing some random items." He said as his gaze travelled to the table and the items piled on it. "And there they are."

"That can't be all, right?" Their daughter asked.

"On the bright side, the trees at the eastern end of the farm seems to be doing a lot better. I suspect that there might be a few ghosts from the phantump line who had somehow travelled here as well. There are definitely traces of sandygast or palossand in our aquatic enclosure near the beach but I don't see them anywhere. The only pokemon I see there is Chill. There may or may not be a few shuppets running about as well."

"So not only our house is haunted, now our _entire_ farm is haunted." Hanna sighed as she rested a palm on her forehead. Dealing with ghosts is a tiring process due to how tricky and elusive they are.

"Fang tried to make them show themselves with Odor Sleuth, but the farm is too huge and the ghosts are moving too fast for Odor Sleuth to even be useful in forcing them to make an appearance." Griff said as Fang barked an agreement while wagging his tail excitedly despite his failed attempts at catching the elusive ghost types. "How did they even manage to appear on our farm in the first place? Don't ghosts have a tendency to appear only in fixed places on the map? Mt Pyre should be where they are appearing in Hoenn, not in Petalburg."

"Ghosts are theorised to be otherworldly creatures that somehow ripped a hole through spacetime to travel here if Professor Birch's theory is to be believed. Why they always ended up appearing in certain places in the world can be attributed to the already present ghostly energies these places have which Professor Birch theorised act like some sort of marker for them during their travels, but sometimes deviations do happen from time to time, like the time Macky suddenly just appeared-"

"You need to slow down, Vel. We're not catching a word you are saying." Hanna reminded her daughter, who is a walking encyclopedia on random knowledge and facts about pokemon. Her daughter can really keep going without stopping once she gets started, although that is a side of her that Hanna hadn't seen in quite a while recently.

"Should we ask Norman for help?" Griff scratched the back of his head. "Normal types and ghost types are opposites of each other, maybe Norman may have a clue on what to do."

"Let me try." Velda volunteered as she moved to walk out of the door. "If all goes well, then the only thing that we need to do is to build a habitat or enclosure for these ghosts to live in. Maybe we will really be the first farm in history to ever succeed in housing ghost types."

"That confident?" Griff sent a smile in his daughter's direction, who only replied with a shrug.

"Never know till you try, right?"

* * *

 _'So why are we all suddenly gathered here?'_

 _'Ghost hunting! Woooooo!'_

 _'Dolly, you do realise that you are a ghost too, right? Why are you so excited at hunting your own kind?'_ Joy asked innocently.

 _'But it's ghost hunting! Woooooo!'_

 _'Ghost or no ghost, there's no need to fear! I am the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy! The strongest pachirisu in existence! I shall- **oof!** KEL~ WHY?!'_

 _'Shut up, Fuzzy.'_

There was a rumbling sound as the ground trembled slightly. Everyone turned their heads to see a massive wave of sand rolling their way with a tyranitar riding on it, its egoistic pride glowing even brighter than the sun shining overhead.

 _'And there he goes again, busy showing off.'_ Bigblue rolled his eyes at the sight.

 _'Three berries that Vel will scold him for covering everything in sand.'_

 _'There's no need to bet. Vel **will** scold him for doing that.'_

"Kratos! What did I say about covering the entire farm in sand?! Get rid of it right now!"

 _'But making my appearance by riding on sand is the entrance befitting that of a King! I need my-'_

"Kratos."

 _'Fine, fine.'_ The tyranitar grumbled as he willed the sand to seep back into the ground, revealing the lush green grass once more. A flygon landed by their side, wings flapping in the beautiful sound that is known only to produce by its species.

 _'What did I miss out?'_

 _'We are going ghost hunting! Wooooo!'_

 _'Uh, Dolly? Does that mean we are hunting you?'_

 _'Snap! Of course I'm **excluded!'**_

 _'Oh, right.'_

 _'Should I be worried that I feel that I'm smarter than them even when I'm the youngest?'_ Joy asked Rena as the cleffa turned to the espeon beside her.

 _'Be glad that you did not catch their idiocy. It's contagious.'_

 _'If it's contagious, then where did it first originated from?'_

 _'Probably Toothless.'_ Flamel snorted before looking up at the sky. _'And speaking of him…'_

 **CRASH!**

"TOOTHLESS! What did I say about trying that particular aerial maneuver on the farm?! Are you really trying to give me grey hairs?!"

 _'Ha hah! Vel's more angry at you than she is at me!'_ Kratos exclaimed in delight.

 _'I believe that this is not something to be celebrated about.'_ Hulk commented as the charizard on their team picked himself up from where he had crash landed near them. A cradily wobbled to their side from where it was hitching a ride on Toothless' back earlier.

 _'Never trying that with Toothless again.'_ Lily stated with certainty before giving her greeting. _'Hello everyone. Is it training time?'_

 _'Battle? ARE WE BATTLING?! LET'S-'_

 _'Chill, **chill**.'_ Flamel reprimanded the excitable lapras, who wilted upon hearing that.

 _'But I want to battle…'_

A small horn poked out of the ground before Ness revealed herself, having traveled all the way here by digging through the land of the massive Vera farm.

 _'I see that I was too late to stop the idiots.'_ Ness said as she looked at the sight of their trainer giving Kratos and Toothless yet another tongue lashing. Said idiots are obviously unrepentant of their actions.

 _'Someone should go and stop Vel before she starts going on and on for who knows how long.'_

 _'And who is going? You?'_

 _'Are you crazy? Who dares to approach Vel when she gets into another one of her scolding sessions?'_

 _'Hey Archer, you mind?'_

 _'...'_

 _'Archer? Helllooooooo. Archer?'_

 _'...'_

 _'Seriously, even Jarvis speaks more than you!'_

 _'...'_

 _'Nevermind.'_

 _'I'll go!'_ Joy happily volunteered herself and with a hop, skip, and jump, the little cleffa bounced her way next to Vel's feet.

 _'Vel! Aren't we supposed to be conducting our ghost hunt?'_ Joy poked at Vel's leg to catch her attention. _'Let's go! Let's go!'_

 _'Wait, what?! A ghost hunt?! Now **that's** a challenge worthy of a King!'_

 _'HELL YEAH!'_

"TOOTHLESS! STOP SPRAYING FIRE EVERYWHERE! LOOK! NOW THE TREE'S ON FIRE!"

A blast of water from Bigblue put the fire out immediately.

 _'You owe me one.'_

 _'Toothless already owes you too many. One more won't make a difference.'_ Hulk deadpanned.

 _'Come on, Vel. Let's go ghost hunting already! The King will walk atop the corpses of the ghosts-'_

 _'I take offence to that.'_ Dolly reminded Kratos.

 _'-and reassert my dominance-'_

 **WHAM!**

 _'We don't have all day to listen to your monologue.'_ Ness said irritatedly as Kratos and Toothless now lie on the ground groaning in pain. _'We have a ghost infestation problem to deal with.'_

 _'Why did you hit me too?! What did I do?!'_

 _'You set the tree on fire.'_

"Alright, we wasted enough time. Let's just get started on this ghost problem."

 _'Finally.'_

 _'Didn't Vel realise that most of the time wasted was on her scolding the two idiots?'_

 _'Shhhh! Don't let her hear it!'_

 _'Not like she can understand us, right?'_

 _'Rena's right beside you!'_

 _'Crap.'_

The entire team is now standing at the back of the Vera house, which Vel is now looking at.

"If even Dolly and Rena cannot find the ghosts hiding in the house, and Fang's Odor Sleuth wasn't effective enough, then there's only one way left."

 _'In my defence, Dolly was being a hindrance more than a help.'_

 _'Rena~ I was helping!'_

 _'No, you weren't. Not when you decided to prank me instead of helping me.'_

 _'It's all in good fun!'_

Of course, their trainer was not privy to whatever they are talking about. Velda merely commanded Bigblue to use a certain move.

"Bigblue, cast Foresight on the entire house. Archer, Jarvis, Kel, Rena, Dolly, Fuzzy. Flush out any ghosts Bigblue revealed and get them here in the open. Please try not to damage anything while you are at it."

A beam of light was emitted from Bigblue's eyes like a high powered torch as the smaller members of the team went into action when Dolly brought them into the house with a Shadow Sneak. Bigblue's Foresight shone brightly on the house from the outside, revealing any ghost types that are lurking in there.

 _'They got them!'_

Sure enough, the smaller members of the team emerged from the house moments later with Rena capturing and immobilising them in a psychic hold so strong that the ghosts have trouble breaking out of it. Kel is dragging out another two ghosts with her jaws since they have natural immunity against Rena's psychic abilities.

"Let's see. Two sableyes, three misdreavus, one duskull, one haunter, and a phantump." Velda listed the various ghosts that the team had caught thus far before speaking to them. "Hello there. Sorry for the rough treatment, but it would be impossible to be able to talk to you guys otherwise. If you guys promise to not run away the moment Rena and Kel releases their hold on you, I will tell them to let you guys go, alright?"

The captured ghosts looked puzzledly at each other.

 _'Woah, she's speaking to us?'_

 _'I don't know. Maybe someone should slap us to see if we are dreaming?'_

 _'I wonder if she likes the shiny things we gave her?'_

 _'Answer Mistress' question.'_ Rena growled and tighten her hold a little.

 _'Alright, alright! Geez! Psychics and their insufferable attitude!'_

 _'At least there's someone here who agrees with me.'_ Kratos nodded and earned himself a glare from Rena as a result.

 _'Ooooh! Hi there! Name's Dolly! Been a while since I've seen other ghosts other than me and Macky here. How did you guys get here?'_

 _'Made the journey from the chaos. We have no idea why or how we landed ourselves here. You?_ '

 _'Travelling from the chaos? That was me a looooong time ago, but I was from Mt Pyre before going to Dewford before ending up here! Vel's nice. Even Macky say she has this comfortable aura thingy-'_

 _'Oooh, so we weren't imagining things then?'_

 _'It's like she's part of the chaos herself. I thought she was a walking dead.'_

 _'Vel's **not** dead! She's alive! See?!'_

Seeing as the captured ghosts are not up to any mischief for the time being since Dolly now has their full and undivided attention, Rena and Kel let them go. Archer returned back to Vel's side as per usual while the rest of the team just waited by the side and watched on curiously.

 _'Wait, you are telling me that unlike us, you came from elsewhere?'_ The duskull asked Dolly curiously. _'There were a whole lot of us who made the journey from the chaos together and we were expecting to be separated and land ourselves at different places in this world like what we were told by the elders, but we all just ended up here somehow.'_

 _'How many of you are we talking about?'_

 _'Way more than our fingers combined.'_ A sableye spoke up.

 _'That's… a lot.'_ Fuzzy said lamely as he perched himself on Bigblue's head.

 _'What did they mean by coming from the chaos?'_ Joy asked Rena curiously.

 _'All ghosts came from another dimension, or at least that is what Dolly and Macky claimed. Not all of them retain memories from their time there though. Dolly herself barely had anything to remember about the chaos while Macky seems to remember a whole lot.'_ Rena explained patiently as she helps her trainer to translate the ongoing conversations between Dolly and the ghosts through their telepathic link.

"That's weird. Since when did our farm become a hotspot for ghosts to spawn themselves here?" Vel muttered to herself as she crossed her arms. "Well, at least this is confirmation to Professor Birch's theory about the origin of ghosts, if he ever chose to take my words at face value."

 _'Are there any strong ones among those that made the trip with you?'_ Kratos interrupted brashly. _'Anyone who could give me a good fight?'_

 _'Or for me to barbeque like a marshmallow.'_

 _'Battle? ARE WE BATTLING-'_

 _'Chill.'_

 _'Awww mannnnnn. I thought they would be more fun than the bunch of talking sand I met the other day!'_

 _'Talking sand?'_ Rena whipped her head around to face Chill. _'What are you talking about?'_

 _'Oh! She must mean the sandygasts and the palossands!'_ A misdreavus said happily as she did loop de loops in the air with Dolly. _'They are fun! Wheeeee!'_

 _'I washed them off into the sea and I never saw them again!'_

 _'Uh…'_ The phantump is now looking at Chill with a look of trepidation.

 _'Wheee! They got washed off! Whooosh!'_ The trio of misdreavus doesn't seem the least bit bothered, however, as they continued to fly excitedly around Dolly. _'Whoosh!'_

 _'Whooooosh!'_ Dolly responded in kind and they would have continued to fool around if it wasn't for Hulk reminding her.

 _'Dolly. The matter at hand.'_

 _'Oh, right!'_ Dolly perked up before turning back to her ghost companions. ' _So you guys have any ideas on where the rest of you might be?'_

 _'The trevenants were saying that they are finding trees to live with.'_ Phantump spoke up. _'I prefer staying here because the sands keep invading the area where my tree is for some reason.'_

Everyone turned to look at Kratos immediately, who is now pretending that he didn't hear anything. Unfortunately for him, Rena had translated everything for Vel to hear.

 _"Kratos."_

 _'It's not me, I swear!'_ Kratos tried to defend himself from his now scowling trainer to no avail. _'It's Snap!'_

 _'Me?'_ Snap cocked his head curiously to the side. _'Since when did I have the ability to control sand as freely as you do?'_

"I will deal with you later." Velda said to Kratos as she rubbed her temples with her knuckles. "We need to first find a way to properly house the wild ghosts who just appeared here out of nowhere."

 _'We can bring you to go find them!'_ A misdreavus volunteered as it landed itself on Vel's head, making it seem like Vel is wearing a green wig. _'There are some really fun ones, like the other shuppets and banettes that got here! There's a gengar too!'_

"A _gengar?_ " Vel frowned a little as she picked the misdreavus off her head. The little ghost merely nuzzled itself against Vel. "Any other fully evolved ghost that I need to know about?"

 _'The banettes are alright, but there was a dusknoir too.'_ One of the sableyes walked closer to Vel under Archer's watchful glare. ' _Dusknoir seems pretty disagreeable to anything and everything. Not a very pleasant fellow. There are a few more of our kind too walking about somewhere.'_

"That dusknoir is definitely our first priority." Velda said as she patted the sableye on the head, who made a strange gurgling sound of content at the touch. "Come on, guys. We have a potentially dangerous dusknoir to catch."

 _'What about the talking sand? Are they dead?'_ Chill asked curiously as she waddled over to Vel. _'I mean, I wasn't really thinking when I just Hydro Pump them into the sea. They looked so strong too! I didn't mean to kill them! I just wanted to play!'_

"We will check on them later." Vel assured Chill when Rena translated Chill's words for her. "For now, let's go find the dusknoir and the gengar. Dad didn't spot any of those when he was checking the farm, so hopefully they didn't cause any mischief that we didn't know about yet."

 _'Sun's too bright.'_ The duskull complained before unexpectedly diving into Vel's shadow. ' _I'll be hitching a ride here.'_

 _'Same goes for us.'_

 _'Hey, what? Get your own shadow! Vel's shadow is mine! **Mine!** '_ Dolly screeched as she too dove into Vel's shadow together with the wild ghosts, much to everyone's bewilderment.

"Uh, you guys comfortable in there?" Velda asked her own shadow in an unsure manner as Kel tried to paw at it to get the wild ghost types out. There was no visible reaction.

 _'Mistress, do you feel any discomfort? Shall we drag them out?'_

"No. It's fine, actually. I don't feel anything out of the ordinary. This is just… too bizarre." Velda shook her head as she climbed onto Flamel's back. "Let's just go and find- wah! _Misdreavus!_ "

The misdreavus just hooted and laughed when it gave Vel a good scare by suddenly reappearing from Vel's shadow before disappearing into it again before Kel could catch it.

 _'Bigblue, how about another Foresight?'_ Rena asked, ready to drag the ghosts out if necessary.

 _'Vel doesn't seem to mind the wild ghosts though, and they seem to like her enough to not do anything that might hurt her. Besides, Dolly's in there. She is strong enough to keep them in line.'_

 _'Can we just go and find those strong ghosts that they were talking about?'_ Kratos snapped. _'A King should not be kept waiting!'_

 _'I don't understand why they are hiding from sunlight. How could anyone not enjoy the sun?'_ Lily hummed as she continued to sway in the sunlight.

 _'Not everyone is a walking plant like you.'_

 _'Can we just get a move on?'_ Hulk cut the nonsense short as he pointed to Vel's and Flamel's departing figure. _'Flamel and Vel are just going to leave us behind at this rate!'_

* * *

There's nothing here that is strong enough to be a worthy foe to him.

 _'Where did you come from? What did you want?!'_

 _'Weak.'_ He scoffed. _'Now, perish.'_

He had thought that he sensed a group of strong pokemon around this large tree. He was sorely disappointed to only find a bunch of grass types living in the area. The only strong being he had sensed thus far on this huge piece of land, wherever this may be, is the void canine that is a companion of one human that had walked past it earlier. Battle hungry he may be, he is not suicidal. It took everything he had to hide himself from the canine's sharp senses. A battle with the void canine is not something he can win yet.

The group of brelooms he was fighting futilely tried to put up resistance once more, only for him to scatter them with a Shadow Ball. Is there **_no_** worthy foe here that is not a companion to one of those blasted humans?

There was a beam of Dark Pulse that immediately forced him to back off. A banette hissed at him angrily as it fired a barrage of Shadow Balls that got him to be immediately on the defensive. Finally!

 _'Hey, don't be rude to those brelooms! They are nice!'_

' _I don't remember seeing you when I was making the trip here from the chaos._ ' He commented as he retaliated with a Shadow Punch, only for the banette to counter with a Protect before launching another barrage of Shadow Balls back at him. ' _You are strong.'_

 _'You are not half-bad yourself for someone who managed to evolve into a dusknoir even in the stagnated chaos._ ' The banette returned the praise as it fired a Thunderbolt. _'But that does not give you a reason to bully those nice brelooms!'_

A wide array of different types of pokemon soon arrived while he was duking it out with the banette. Dusknoir growled in annoyance when he realised that they are all under the command of a human trainer.

To top it off, the human is but a youngling.

 _'Hey, let me have a go!'_ A gigantic creature that dusknoir is sure is from the void yelled out at the banette, who simply ignored him.

"Cool it, Kratos." The human scolded the creature and it reluctantly stepped back. "The last thing I need is for Whiskers' tree to be destroyed. This tree is important."

 _'Is that a dusknoir?'_

 _'It is.'_ The human's shadow moved as a variety of ghosts emerged from it. A duskull responded to the little pink thing's question upon hearing it. ' _This is supposedly my final evolutionary form.'_

 _'I just hope you retain your manners when you evolve into this.'_

 _'Trust me, it's just him that's so unpleasant. But you got to admit it's impressive that he somehow managed to reach this point all by himself in the chaos. Technically speaking, there was no need for him to come to this world if he managed to reach his final evolution. The only reason why we young ghosts chose to come here was because it was nearly impossible for us to evolve in the chaos.'_

 _'What's it like in there?'_

 _'Chaotic.'_

 _'That's, uh, descriptive.'_ A huge hulking bipedal creature, _also_ belonging to that blasted void commented on the outstanding answer.

 _'Take this!'_ The banette got his full attention once more when it suddenly reappeared from behind with a Phantom Force before shooting a gigantic Shadow Ball right at his head. Dusknoir tried retaliating with a Payback, only to find himself restricted from using this move due to banette's earlier use of Imprison.

 _Stupid human raised ghost_. Dusknoir seethed at the back of his mind as he continued to duel with the banette. He had heard of these creatures called humans a long time ago by the elder ghosts who have reached the pinnacle of their strength and are able to traverse freely between the chaos and this world. The thought of them willingly submitting themselves to another being infuriates him.

 _Have they forgotten about their pride?! They are ghosts! They don't submit nor do they surrender! They take their foes down with them no matter the cost!_

It seems like this banette needs a reminder on what it means to be a ghost type. If the human is the one holding it back, then he will kill her.

With a Shadow Sneak, dusknoir escaped from the banette and dashed towards the human who is riding the back of a fire type creature. Dusknoir opened his gaping mouth, eager to rid the banette of this bad influence.

 _'Oh dang, I let him give me the slip. Guys! He's heading for Vel!'_

There was the sound of something fast and an ungodly amount of pain surging through his body. Dusknoir hissed as he found both his hands severed and dissipating into wisps of smoke. A red armoured creature buzzed angrily at him before launching itself towards him once more.

 _'Beat him up, Archer!'_

 _'Kill him! **KILL!** '_

 _'Show him not to mess with Vel!'_

 _'WE ARE **BATTLING!** '_

 _'Go go go!'_

 _'Please. Like he has a chance of even touching Vel with us around.'_

To dusknoir's surprise, this seemingly weak red armoured creature is a lot stronger than the banette. Each swing of its mighty pincers landed a cut on his ghostly body. Each blast of energy from it hurt him so badly that it stings.

This may be the strongest opponent he had ever faced.

Dusknoir quickly regenerated his missing hands before using a Fire Punch. The red creature simply blocked it with Protect before hammering him with an Iron Head that made his vision blur.

There was a dangerous sound of something slashing through the air and even before he could react, dusknoir found himself horizontally cleaved into two at his waist with a Night Slash. It's nothing that he couldn't regenerate from, but repeatedly doing so will leave him very exhausted.

Although at this point, he has no choice but to continuously regenerate his body if he doesn't want to die.

 _'This human's nice, you know.'_ One of the sableyes who came here with him and had been hiding in the human's shadow all this while spoke up. _'There's no need to go for her life. She even let us hide in her shadow to escape the sun.'_

 _'Her shadow is really comfortable. You should try it!'_ A phantump commented excitedly.

 _'No kidding.'_

 _'I don't need any help from humans!'_ Dusknoir bellowed as he forcefully regenerated his body once more. _'I am the **strongest!** And I will put down anyone who stands in my way, even at the cost of my life!'_

The only response he got was a Bullet Punch from the red creature that sent him sprawling on the ground. The next thing he knew, a red coloured ball hit him on the head and sucked him in even before he could react.

* * *

 _Ghosts in the wild are vicious until you beat them black and blue, and even then they won't stop trying to get at you. You are very lucky, child._

Agatha's words at Mt Pyre rang loudly in my mind as I picked up the pokeball that now houses dusknoir. There was no other way for us to peacefully resolve this issue other than capturing it due to how violent and vindictive it was behaving.

 _'This ghost has a temperament that is even more insufferable than the brute._ ' Rena spoke to me as I pocketed dusknoir's pokeball. I will deal with it later. Right now, we have to continue hunting for the ghosts who are suddenly infesting my family's farm by some coincidental luck of appearing here while making their travels to this world from their birthplace. The place that is known to them as the _chaos_.

Wherever that place is.

"If worse comes to worst, we will let Kratos handle him." I patted Rena on the head before climbing onto Flamel's back once more. "We should find the gengar. If a single dusknoir tried to kill off the entire breloom population behind our backs and nearly succeeded, I don't want to know what the gengar is trying to do."

Archer walked back to my side and stood beside me in that usual cooler-than-thou manner of his. He had just done a splendid job of protecting me when he single handedly stopped the dusknoir in its tracks. My other pokemon would have done the same too, but Archer's reaction time was simply that fast.

Our team travelled around the farm scouring for any other random wild ghost types that somehow found their way into my family's farm. Most of them are just young ghosts who don't have much control or power over their ghostly abilities and are just creating harmless mischief for the fun of it. With Dolly around as my representative, she somehow managed to convince most of them to stop terrorising whatever pokemon population that caught their attention and take residence in my shadow instead.

Hence, right now I have dozens of wild ghosts of different species hiding in my shadow. Sableyes, duskulls, misdreavus, shuppets, gastlys, the occasional phantumps and pumpkaboos and their respective evolutionary lines. There are ghosts who are content with being left alone in their own corner which they claimed for themselves, like the few trevenants who now take residence in the eastern part of the farm that provides a forested habitat for pokemon on our farm who is known to live in forests in the wild. We left them alone since they are surprisingly friendly enough with me and they are not causing any mischief. All they ask for are trees for them to care for and live in. The sandygasts and palossands Rena told me that Chill had washed away by mistake had only just returned, although they are now staying far away from Chill despite her friendly advances. Like the trevenants, they are also content with simply being left alone and are not creating any troubles.

All that is left is the gengar that we had not been able to find yet. It's been an _entire day_ and we saw no signs that indicated its presence. The ghosts who we met had informed me through Rena that they are sure that a gengar followed them here from the chaos.

Wonder where it went to?

Letting the massive horde of ghosts that we found continue to take residence in my shadow is not a long term solution, so I have Kratos and Bigblue build a massive tower made of rocks near the forest where the trevenants are living on our farm. Knowing the preferences of ghost types, I made sure to tell Kratos and Bigblue to construct the tower in such a way that the interior is dark, cool, and have plenty of places for them to hide and explore to their heart's content. The ghosts seemed happy with their new home and gladly took residence in it.

There are still a few who chose to remain in my shadow. I cannot say for sure what species and how many, but I know that they are in there. Dolly has been diving in and out of my shadows trying to chase them out since she is a little possessive of what used to be her own unique space, but she's adjusting to the change quickly enough. It also helps that these ghosts are actually friendly with me and allow me to actually have physical contact with them. The young misdreavus that was lurking in the house now likes to sit on the top of my head like some sort of wig.

My pokemon are concerned about having unidentified ghosts hiding in my shadows without prior consent, but these wild ghosts seemed genuinely friendly towards us so we ended up leaving them be. Besides, if even Dolly is having difficulty flushing them out of my shadow, there's really nothing much that we can do. This is what made ghosts so deadly. If they are dead set on stalking you, there's really nothing you can do about it other than employing the help of another ghost.

On the bright side, our farm is now probably the first pokemon breeding farm that actually has an enclosure for ghost types that made them choose to willingly stay there. That will give our farm some nice publicity and hopefully bring in some new customers.

"So all that is left is a gengar?"

"Uh huh." I replied to Mum's question as my parents and I ate dinner together. Vance is back at the Battle Frontier helping out with the rebuilding efforts. "We didn't manage to see any signs of it. I'm not sure whether it will appear in the house, so it's best to let our pokemon keep a lookout at night."

Fang barked an agreement before going back to devouring his meal.

Dinner ended soon enough and as usual, I brought the dishes to the sink to be washed. It was when I was washing the dishes that I heard weird noises from the kitchen cupboard where Macky's enormous stash of pecha berries is stored. The noise was soft and brief enough that I brushed it off as my imagination at first, but when I heard it a second time minutes later, I know that my ears are not deceiving me.

 _'Rena? I need you here.'_

Rena ran into the kitchen with Kel and Fuzzy behind her the moment I called for her. Dolly reappeared beside us with Joy hitching a ride. My shadows are still moving, and I know that whatever wild ghosts that had chosen to remain in my shadow are also feeling agitated.

Slowly, Rena opened the cupboard where Macky's pecha berries are kept. Oh boy, if what I suspect is true, Macky will not be pleased at all in finding that his pecha berries had been stolen by another ghost.

* * *

The most exciting thing today would be playing hide-and-seek with the human and her band of pokemon. It took him by surprise that there is a pokemon among the human's pokemon team that can use Foresight, but it is nothing that he cannot evade by hiding himself underground.

And then there was the fight with the dusknoir prick too! **_That_** was exciting! The banette was good, really, but the pokemon which he now knows everyone calls Archer is _really_ strong! Like super strong!

But what is the red and white ball thing that the little human threw at dusknoir? It just sucked dusknoir in like _whoooooosh_ and dusknoir just disappeared! How?!

The little human is what everyone calls Vel if his ears heard correctly. She seems nice. At least she's friendly and has this weird but comfortable aura around her that just attracts ghosts like him to her. The dusknoir probably was too fixated on killing everything around him to notice it, but eh, he will notice it soon enough if he's still alive.

What made him not happy was the fact that everyone was eating something nice when the sun had set. It made him hungry too! He wants food too!

So he snuck into the room where he knows lots of food is kept. He had expended a lot of energy playing hide-and-seek with the human and her pokemon earlier and he's hungry dammit! How had they not noticed him for so long?! He gave them so many clues too!

Or maybe he's just that good? That must be it!

The best find would be the pink food of the gods he found in one of the cupboards. He thought nothing of it initially, but after the first bite, he instantly _fell in love_ with it.

The sweet taste! The fluffy goodness! The spongy texture! Oh he can continue to eat this _forever!_ This food, whatever this is, was definitely blessed by Arceus!

The pink food was so good that instead of him devouring it in one mouthful like what he usually does with his food, gengar gingerly ate each of the pink goodness bite by bite, savouring the heavenly taste that sent him into a state of bliss.

 _This is awesome!_

Vel is still washing some round flat things with running water that is a poor imitation of a Water Gun he saw some of the water types can do who are living on the large piece of land outside. She must have very bad senses if she couldn't tell that he is just hiding less than five feet away from her. Her pokemon also really need to brush up on their tracking and sensing skills. Seriously, he's never far from them the entire day! How had _none_ of them sensed him?!

Never mind. At least the small little bag of pink food is more than enough to make it up for him. What heavenly taste!

In the state of content bliss that he was in, he failed to pick up that several pokemon had entered the room where the human is washing whatever. Thus, he was in for a jaw dropping surprise when the cupboard simply opened. His paws were half outstretched, reaching out for another of those small pink things of heavenly goodness from where he sat himself in the dark cupboard when he was literally caught red-handed with a look of shock on his face.

 _Ooops_

 _'Uh, hi?'_ He greeted sheepishly as his left paw slowly reached out to grab another of the pink thing before he slowly took a bite from it. Might as well eat as many as he can before he got chased out of here. ' _It's kind of cosy here, huh?'_

The little human gave him a very unimpressed look as she visually scanned him from head to toe. The psychic feline copied the look of its trainer. The void feline rolled her eyes at his thievery as the electric squeaky thing looked at him curiously.

 _'It's another Macky!'_

' _I'm a gengar, not a Macky.'_ Gengar corrected the sparky creature as he unashamedly reached out for the bag to grab another one of those heavenly food. Since he already got caught, might as well play it off.

 _'Macky is another gengar like you, and those pecha berries are his favourite foods._ ' A little pink thing that can actually talk nearly made him drop his food in surprise. Oh wait, it's small and pink like the food in his paws but the talking one looks totally different from the food he is eating. That thing is a pokemon, not food.

 _'Pecha berries?'_ Gengar mused as he looked at the food in his paws with a newfound realisation. _'So this is what this blessed food is called! The taste is heavenly!'_

 _'This Macky is of a different colour though.'_ The ghost which everyone calls her by the name of Dolly spoke up as she floated next to him and chatted excitedly. _'Macky is more purple than him.'_

 _'You racist?'_

 _'What does racist mean?'_

 _'I don't know. One of the elder ghosts taught me that word when I was still a part of the chaos.'_ Gengar shrugged at the question posed to him by the inedible pink thing. _'He told me to use that as my default response when anyone asked me about my different colouration.'_

 _'You are more… darker? Greyer?'_

 _'Duh. You colourblind?'_ Gengar huffed as he decided to just screw it and dumped the entire bag of the heavenly food into his mouth. Mmm. Tasty.

 _'Macky is **not** going to be happy about what you just did._' Dolly shook her head before brightening up again. _'But that was such a nice prank! I approve!'_

 _'Prank? I was hiding near you guys the entire day and none of you found me! You guys suck as seekers! What kind of lousy hide-and-seek games have you guys been playing?!'_

 _'I am the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy!'_ The squeaky ball of spark squeaked out. _'State ye name, o evil ghost! Fer the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy will smite you if ye- OOF!'_

 _'Please ignore him. He's an idiot.'_ The void feline spoke smoothly as if she didn't just punted the noisy ball of white fur out of the window with her leg. How did she do it while remaining so graceful?

 _'You know what? You rock!'_ Gengar gave the void feline his best impression of a thumbs up like what he saw the other humans working on this land do sometimes when they complimented another person. _'That was so cool!'_

 _'Finally. Someone with a similar artistic sense as me.'_

 _'How is kicking the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy artistic?!'_ Fuzzy yelled out as he climbed back in through the window and shook off the leaves clinging onto his fur. He scampered back to the human and started to whine.

 _'Vel~ The other Macky is so not nice!'_

 _'I told you I'm a **gengar** , you dumb shit.'_

 _'See?!'_

 _'Mind your language.'_ The psychic feline whipped her tail at him, causing gengar to flinch a little at the unexpected contact. _'There are children here!'_

 _'Rena, why does he say dumb shit and not stupid faeces? Aren't they the same thing?'_

 _'Joy. Please stop asking.'_

 _'Hey, you got anymore of those nice sweet stuff?'_ Gengar floated in front of the nice human and waved his stubby arms to catch her attention. _'I'm addicted to that pink shit!'_

 _'Why are you addicted to shit? Why is your shit even pink in colour?'_

 _'Joy!'_

 _'B-But I want to know!'_

 ** _'No!'_**

 _'That guy even got Joy all confused.'_ Dolly commented as Vel and gengar are now effectively playing charades since Rena is too busy trying to steer Joy's thoughts away from asking more about shit. _'He's a true prankster through and through.'_

"You mean you want more pecha berries? You cannot just eat _everything_ in one mouthful, you know? It's not like I can keep buying you those forever. You will need to learn how to control yourself."

 _'Just give me more of those pink food of the gods and I will swear my allegiance, no, even my **soul** to you! I-I know! You can even have my first-born! How about that?!'_

 _'He's serious?!'_ Fuzzy gasped. ' _And what is that about giving Vel your first-born?! Don't make Vel sound so evil!'_

"If you really want more pecha berries you would have to wait until tomorrow. Not only that, you cannot cause any trouble for anyone or any pokemon here. Are you agreeable with that?"

 _'Yes, yes, and YES! I already promise you my first-born! What **more** do you want?! I don't care where you get it from! Just give me more of those!'_

"Are you _disagreeing_ with me? How greedy can you get?"

 ** _'How_** _is that a disagreement?! Alright, you got me. You can have my second-born too! N-Not satisfied?! What are you?! Giratina incarnate?! **Fine!** You can have all of my future children too! Happy now?!'_

"Now you are agreeing with me? Alright. I'll get some of those pecha berries for you tomorrow, but **eat in moderation**. Okay?"

 _'I get it! I get it! I just want a lifetime supply of those!'_

 _'He sold his descendants for pecha berries.'_ Fuzzy said in bewilderment, still not wrapping his head around the entire issue.

 _'Why did he say that he wanted to eat pink-'_

 _'JOY! STOP ASKING!'_

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the long wait. I took a long pause from IJWTTTW because I've been writing chapters for new pokemon stories among other things, and IJWTTTW is really too far ahead of them in terms of plot so I have no choice but to leave it as it is until the other six stories catch up with IJWTTTW. So far, there is Rocket's Exterminator, Reach for the Skies, The Sun of Sunyshore, Ordinary Researcher, and Histories of the Earth. One story for one region and they will coincide at some point in time. There is still the Alola one left and I am working on it. Hopefully it can be published soon. If you guys are bored waiting for the next update of IJWTTTW which I cannot guarantee when I can update it, you can try reading the other pokemon stories that I had written while waiting for the next update.**

 **I was watching the latest episode of the Pokemon anime 2019 series and it featured a gengar. The last scene really cracked me up because it gave me serious _Itachi gonna kill the uchiha vibes._ The first thing that came to my mind when I finished watching the gengar episode was Vel, and I thought since her affinity with ghost types was more of mentioned by others instead of being physically explored, maybe I should dedicate a chapter to her and random ghost types that she met along the way? That was how this chapter came about. I plan to further explore Vel's unnatural affinity with ghosts in later chapters, so I didn't write and explain everything in this one. It's meant to keep people guessing until more is revealed later.**

 **In any case, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Dusknoir, male**

 **18) Gengar, male**

 **And a whole lot of unidentified ghosts hiding in her shadows**


	44. Chapter 44- Wacky

"You got yourself a _shiny_ gengar."

"Why, jealous?"

"Not really." Vance replied as he and his baby sister watched the newest addition to Vel's team chasing after a terrified Fuzzy in circles. Fuzzy is squeaking something incoherent while the gengar is just constantly making a _BLLEERRGGHH_ sound as it chases after Fuzzy with its jaws wide open. Given how unhinged Velda's gengar is, he's glad that he has Macky instead of _that_.

Should he feel a little sad for Fuzzy that no one comes to his aid?

"So, you naming it?" He asked his little sister. When he first got wind that his family's house and the entire farm was suffering from a ghost infestation problem, he had tried to drop everything as fast as he could at the Battle Frontier before coming back home ASAP, only to find that his baby sister had already resolved everything beautifully.

That's his sister for ya!

"I have no idea what to name him." Vel admitted as she watched their pokemon interact with each other. If what Vance interprets is right, Macky and the shiny gengar are now comparing their colour differences, giving Fuzzy a short break. There's really not much of a difference if he has to be honest. They are both still purple, only that Vel's gengar is a little lighter in colour with a light shade of grey as well.

Greyish purple? Is that even a colour?

"We used to only have one glutton for pecha berries. Now we have two." Velda sighed and Vance cannot help but laugh out loud. He can still remember the phone call he received early this morning from Velda, telling him to get a large number of pecha berries on his way home.

"Dad said you caught a dusknoir too. What are you going to do with it?"

"I have no clue." Velda groaned. "Taming a pokemon as vicious as the dusknoir will take too long. I really don't have the time to be doing so seeing that I will be setting sail soon to do interpol stuff. You want it?"

"Nah." Vance waved it off. "If you cannot tame it, trade it for other pokemon with someone else. You can get some really good offers with a fully evolved ghost."

"I'll consider it." Velda nodded as the two gengars are now trying to inflate themselves as much as physically possible. "But what to name this gengar? Hmm…"

"Macky v2.0"

"Bad name."

"Macky Jr."

"Vance. _Please_."

"Your gengar's name _needs_ to be similar to Macky!" Vance insisted. "It's all about the sibling theme!"

Velda gave him a flat look.

"Vel!"

"Fine." She rolled her eyes before going back to thinking once more. After some time, she spoke up.

"Wacky."

"What?"

"Macky and Wacky. Sounds good?"

"It's… GENIUS!" Vance exclaimed, catching the attention of all their pokemon. "All you did was to invert the 'M' in Macky's name!"

"You catch on quick." Vel commented as she beckoned for the shiny gengar to come closer to her, which it did. "How about it? Do you like the name Wacky?"

* * *

"How about it? Do you like the name Wacky?"

Gengar blinked his eyes twice. Name? Velda's giving him a _name?_

 _'You accepting it?'_ Dolly nudged him, bringing him out of his thoughts. _'Vel gave a name to each and every one of us here. I mean, it's not compulsory that you have to take it, but we all do in the end.'_

 _'You mean even the dusknoir will have one?'_

 _'If that prick ever ends up as being part of the team, then yeah. He will.'_ Flamel answered patiently. _'Although he had already painted himself in a very bad light for what he tried to do to Vel.'_

 _'Who cares? Never liked him anyway.'_ Gengar popped his eyes out before rolling it, giving the two humans a brief scare. Rena is now screaming at him about the 101 reasons why he shouldn't do that to Velda, but he really doesn't care all that much about that stuck up psychic.

Gengar floated up high, sucked in a breath, and yelled out loud for everyone to hear.

 _'You hear that, you little shits?! I'm the Demon Overlord Wacky! Quake on your feet and shiver in your skin, for I am the **Demon Overlord Wacky!** FEAR ME! WAHAHAHAHA!'_

 _'He's another Fuzzy._ ' Flamel stated with a tired sigh. _'But a lot more chaotic.'_

"I take it that he accepted the name." Vel said out loud as Wacky's evil laughter resounded across the empty clearing they were at. A zap from Vance's electivire brought Wacky back down to the ground.

 _'Ow! What's that for!'_

 _'Just shut up.'_

 ** _'Fight me!'_** Kratos roared as sands began to rise from all around them. _'The mighty King against the Demon Overlord! There's no greater battle in history than this!'_

 _'BATTLE? WE ARE BATTLING?!'_

 _'Come get me!'_ Toothless declared his challenge as he spread his wings and flew into the sky in a blaze of fire.

 _'You are no match for me, you foolish mortals!'_ Wacky declared loud and clear as he struck a pose with an open palm in front of him and his other arm stretched backwards and his feet spaced apart. _'I am the embodiment of chaos, the representation of evil! Shadows fear my presence and life fades with my every breath! I'm the ruler of the underworld, the Demon Overlord Wacky! WAHAHAHA!'_

 _'I take back everything I said. I regret ever befriending him.'_ Kel spoke irritatedly. _'Permission to kill him?'_

 _'Permission granted.'_ Rena replied with a scowl.

 _'Permission **denied**.'_ Flamel stopped Kel before she really went on with her threat. Surprisingly enough, Vance and Vel are not putting a stop to the battle currently going on between the team. Kratos, Toothless, Wacky, Chill, and even Snap are now fighting against each other in a five-way battle.

 _'How can you not invite the strongest pachirisu in existence to take part in such a glorious battle?!'_ Fuzzy squeaked out in horror as he sparked himself up before charging right in the middle of that mess. ' _Grovel before my feet! Storms, heed my call! Lightning, answer my command! I'm the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy- OOF!'_

 _'And he got taken out with a single hit.'_ Joy commented as they all watched Fuzzy's little body soared overhead before landing in a nearby pond in a huge splash.

 _'Hiyah! Wacky kick!'_

There was a loud sound of something smacking into something else as Toothless was sent flying out from the chaotic battle. He barrel rolled in the air before righting himself once more.

 _'Not fair! We can't hit you at all!'_

 _'Well, I'm a **ghost** and the Demon Overlord Wacky! What'd you expect, huh? Me sitting there and kissing you hello?'_

"Wacky's surprisingly good." Vance commented as the brawl continues when Toothless rejoins the battle. "The speed in which he switches between his tangible and intangible form is even better than many other trained ghosts I had seen. You can work with him on that. I can see that becoming his favoured fighting style."

"Definitely." Vel replied and there's no hiding the glee in her voice. "Wacky is like a little phantom menace. This is good."

A massive burst of Dark Pulse from Kratos blew a huge crater on the ground.

 _'Where Wacky go?!'_

 _'On your back!'_ Chill cried out as she tried to freeze both Kratos and Wacky, but Kratos interrupted her before she could pull off a massive Blizzard.

 _'I've decided! You make a good evil stead for this evil Demon Overlord! WAHAHA!'_ Wacky cackled as he rode on Kratos' back and no matter what the tyranitar did, Wacky just could not be shaken off.

 _'Ooh! A feisty one! I like feisty ones! I shall tame you, you vile creature of the void! And together, we shall conquer the **WOOOOOORRLLDD**!'_

 _'I will **not** be conquered by the likes of you! Get off me!'_

A raging gust of Heat Wave blew both Kratos and Wacky off their feet.

 ** _'I'm_** _the winner!'_ Toothless roared out in victory, only for Snap to tackle him back down onto the ground.

 _'What an unsightly scene.'_ Rena scoffed as she snuggled closer to her trainer to protect her sanity while glaring at the barbarians in disdain.

 _'If Wacky's already this unhinged.'_ Lily asked nobody in particular as she raised a wall of rocks to prevent the impact of Snap's Hyper Beam implicating them when he fired it at Kratos, who had stupidly held Wacky in front of him as his shield only for the Hyper Beam to pass through Wacky harmlessly. _'How crazy do you think that dusknoir will be?'_

 _'AHAHAHA! **SUCKER!** I'm a GHOST! Hyper Beams don't work on me! I ROCK! Oh wait, I'm a ghost! Not a rock! WHEEEE!'_

 _'Wacky has issues.'_ Bigblue commented as Wacky inflated himself like a balloon before releasing that air from his mouth, resulting in him flying uncontrollably in circles in the air above them while still making that _WHEEE_ sound. _'It's official, he's nuts.'_

 _'I'M NOT A NUT! I'M THE DEMON OVERLORD WACKY! THE LORD OF SHADOWS!'_

 _'See? He's nuts.'_

 _'I think we made the wrong choice inviting him over.'_ Dolly tilted her head to a side, a little afraid of the power being thrown around by the powerhouses of their team. Even Vance's team had moved aside to let them do whatever they want.

 _'Hey! You guys want to see what I just learnt from the humans I spied on? The pose of dominance? The strongest pose in history? The pose fitting for an overlord like me?'_

 _'Nobody cares, Wacky.'_

Snap was swiftly punted out of the battle by the chaotic ghost for that remark.

 _'I WILL MAKE YOU FEAR ME! FEEL THY STRENGTH OF THE STRONGEST POSE IN HISTORY!'_ Wacky yelled out loud with his tongue shooting out in absurdly long length from his mouth and his stubby arms raised horizontally and parallel to the ground while floating in the air. The light of the sun is shining down on top of Wacky, giving him a contrasting holy glow for a demonic ghost like him.

 _' **THE T POSE!** '_

 _'Alright, I'm ending this.'_ Hulk got up from where he was sitting on the ground and rotated his arms to loosen some of his muscles. _'This ridiculous farce had gone on long enough. Please don't stop me.'_

 _'You tell them, Hulk.'_ Kel gave her full approval as Hulk picked up a huge boulder from the ground before throwing at the group of quintet idiots with a powerful Fling.

The attack connected, but it didn't work quite as expected.

 _'A NEW CONTENDER?!'_

 _'BATTLE! LET'S ALL SAY HELLO AND BATTLE EACH OTHER!'_

 _'I'M THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!'_

 _'BACK OFF! I'M THE DEMON OVERLORD! FEEL MY DOMINANCE... **T POSE!** '_

 _'FIGHT ME!'_

 _'... I think we had just made things worse.'_

* * *

When he was finally released from the stupid red and white ball, he found himself in a whole new different area.

"Alright, guys. We have no time for this. He's all yours. Do whatever you guys need to do to get him to listen. If it doesn't work, then we will find another way some other time when we are free again."

Dusknoir growled in rage as he called upon the power he has over the chaos to unleash upon the wretched group of pokemon under the command of the human. He took a pause when his sole eye spotted a familiar figure.

 _'Gengar? What are you doing there?'_

 _'Hey, prick!'_ The gengar greeted back with a wave of his paw. _'Wassup!'_

 _'You… joined the human too?'_ Dusknoir spoke in disbelief when he saw gengar among the company of that little human and her wretched team of pokemon.

 _'Yeah, your point being?'_ Gengar shrugged nonchalantly. ' _She provides me with the food of the gods and in return all I have to do is to be part of her team. I mean, I did surrender my descendants to her, but meh, details. Whatever. It's still an absolute win if you ask me.'_

 _'Do you have no pride?!'_ Dusknoir bellowed out as ghostly energies spilled out of him. _'We are **ghosts!** We are immortal beings! We don't need to rely on inferior creatures!'_

 _'Is it just me, or does this scene look very familiar?'_ The banette questioned out loud.

 _'The Kratos beatdown.'_ A feline of the void answered. _'The only time when Fuzzy was tolerable.'_

 _'And I'm here again to deliver the second beatdown! Grovel before my feet, you evil ghost! I'm the awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous Fuzzy- OW!'_

 _'Shut up, Fuzzy.'_

 _'KEL! Stop ruining my introductions!'_

 _'So this was the classic Kratos beatdown that you guys kept talking about?'_

 _'Yes, Hulk. Only that this time Kratos is now a mean and angry ghost.'_

 _'Kratos used to be cute though.'_ A flaming lizard commented. _'Likes to do all those weird fancy dances that he thought were effective feints. Pfft.'_

 _'I will eat you guys.'_

 _'And there's the threatening act that scares absolutely no one.'_ A big and blue creature rolled his eyes as it said this. _'Try something different, won't you?'_

 _'I wonder if dusknoir knows what Double Team is?'_ A small little pink thing asked the psychic feline beside it.

 _'Why don't you go and try battling the ghost, Joy? Take this as an opportunity to see how far you have come.'_

 _'Battle? Joy's BATTLING? Go say hello to the dusknoir, Joy! Make sure that you are friendly!'_

 _'You guys are bad influences on Joy.'_

 _'Lighten up, Ness. The prick deserved it for what he tried to do to Vel.'_

 _'On second thought, you are right, Toothless. **Go Joy!** Beat the rudeness out of that ghost!'_

 _'Ness, you are supposed to be the rational one here!'_

 _'Hulk, Toothless has a valid point for once. I need to show some support.'_

 _'Just do your best, Joy. You have Rena's and my full support on this.'_

 _'What Kel said! Go Joy go! Go Joy go!'_ A plant-like creature swayed itself excitedly from side to side as it cheered the pink fairy on.

 _'Dominate hiiiiim!'_

 _'Wacky. Control yourself, please.'_

 _'Yeah, don't just dominate that little piece of shit!'_ The gigantic rock-void lizard sucked in a breath before roaring out. **_'HUMILIATE HIM!'_**

 _'Like how Fuzzy humiliated you?'_

 _'Ooooh! Nice one, Wacky! Nice burn! Better than a Will-O-Wisp!'_ The banette high-fived gengar. _'Ghost pals for life!'_

Dusknoir's rage which had been slowly building up finally exploded in a full-blown eruption.

 _'You even accepted a name given by those humans?! How **far** have you fallen, gengar?!'_

 _'Lighten up, would you?'_ Gengar, no, _Wacky_ , scoffed out loud. _'In any case, good luck. The little pecha berry packs quite a mean punch. Don't say that I didn't warn ya.'_

 ** _'I'll murder you all!'_** Dusknoir bellowed in anger as he swung his massive fist at the small little pink pokemon who is now standing a few feet away from him.

 _'The punch is too wide and telegraphed. And it's foolish to broadcast your thoughts out loud!'_ Joy took on a reprimanding tone as the oddly agile ball of pink dodged his punch before sending an erratic arc of lightning his way. It barely tickled.

 _'That all you got?!'_

 _'If you can't move, then that's really all I got for you.'_ Joy nodded politely.

Dusknoir suddenly fell onto the ground, body spasming uncontrollably. What? _What's this?!_ A delayed effect?!

 _'That was a Thunder Wave. Are you okay? Was that a little too much for you to handle? Uhm, did I overdo it?'_

 _'You…'_ Dusknoir desperately fought through the surprisingly strong paralysis and managed to send a massive Shadow Ball at the pink pokemon. **_'DIE!'_**

 _'Now that's not very polite.'_ Joy shook her head in disapproval as she produced many illusory copies of herself to dodge that Shadow Ball. _'Although I will give you points for fighting through that paralysis. That was commendable.'_

 _'What is that?'_ Dusknoir whispered to himself as copies of the damned pink ball now multiplied itself all around him. He growled once more before he roared at the annoying pink little fairy. _'Stop hiding and fight me!'_

 _'I see that you have never heard what a Double Team is, similar to what I heard about Kratos when he first joined.'_ A Shadow Ball slammed into his back as that annoying voice resounded all around him. _'Allow me to educate you. Lesson number one in using Double Team. First, you need to relax yourself and your muscles so that you can enable yourself to move rapidly-'_

 _'I don't have muscles! And shut up! You are annoying! You'll be the first that I will kill!'_ Dusknoir made a swipe at the copies around him only to come out with nothing. Seeing that, he whipped up an Ominous Wind that ripped everything around him apart, including the illusionary clones.

 _'Found you!'_ Dusknoir closed the gap with a Shadow Sneak, only to narrow his eye in confusion when that too was another copy.

 _'That was Substitute. For all your shouts and threats, you are not that smart, are you? That was such an obvious setup.'_

Dusknoir growled as he launched a Shadow Punch from where the voice was coming from. He missed again.

 _'I apologise. It was rude of me to point out your flaws like that. How about we reintroduce ourselves? Hello! My name is Joy! What's yours?'_

 _'Oi Joy! Stop tap dancing around that stupid ghost! Just defeat him in the most humiliating way possible!'_

 _'But that's not very nice, Kratos.'_

 _'Don't be dumb! Why play nice with him when he ain't playing nice?! No way he's gonna listen when you are being all polite like that!'_

 _'You… have a point.'_

 _'I AM A KING! I make many valid points! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO OBEY!'_

 _'Joy, just use the ULTIMATE MOVE! Do it like I taught you!'_

 _'Dominatioooooooon! Wheeeeeee!'_

 _'Erm…'_ Joy pondered as she continued to dodge each and every of his punches while doing so. How?! _How_ is this little pink ball of annoyance doing it?!

 _'Turn him into a soccer ball!'_ The banette hollered out.

 _'Pretty sure you mean volleyball, Dolly.'_

 _'It's the same. They are still balls!'_

 _'Was that what you turned Kratos into?'_

 _'Yes! We nearly hit twenty counts too on that first try! We can totally do it this time! JOY! Hit him up like we taught you!'_

 _'Calculating speed and velocity needed for Joy to do an effective volleyball bounce with dusknoir… Joy, the Gravity and Flamethrower combo we discussed the other day would be optimal.'_

 _'Jarvis! **You speak!** '_

 _'Why, yes I do. Only Archer never speaks.'_

 _'...'_

 _'Point made.'_

 _'Uh, okay Jarvis! Here I go!'_

With a burst of speed and strength unbefitting of its size, the pink ball suddenly got under dusknoir before releasing the largest burst of flames from her mouth that blasted him into the air.

He can't even react to it! Not with the stupid paralysis still going on!

 _'Here I go!'_

 _'Go for it, Joy!'_

 ** _'HUMILIATE HIM!'_**

 _'Shut up, Kratos.'_

 _'Look at her, all grown up!'_

 _'See that Flamethrower? I taught her that!'_

 _'We know, Toothless, we know.'_

 _'Hey! I taught her that Thunder Wave and none of you say anything!'_

 _'Nobody cares about you, Fuzzy.'_

 _'Oooh! Look at the height! Let's just start counting! Ready?'_

 _'One!'_

 _'Two!'_

 _'Three! Four! Five!-'_

The entire duration where he was flung up and down twenty times with those wretched pokemon counting by the side was the most _humiliating_ experience dusknoir ever went through. Every time dusknoir was forcefully pulled back down to the ground with a Gravity he would be sent blasting into the sky again with another burst of Flamethrower by the pink ball and he _could. not. do. a. damn. thing. about it._

 _'EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN… **TWENTY!** WOOHOO! YOU DID IT, JOY!'_

 _'Uhm, I did?'_ The pink ball turned back towards the noisy band of misfits for confirmation, leaving dusknoir twitching in agony on the ground.

 _'YES! YES! **YES!** NOW **THAT'S** HOW YOU HUMILIATE THAT LITTLE SHIT!'_

 _'Kratos, you **need** to calm down.'_ The creature with many tentacles had to physically hold the rock lizard back in its excitement.

 _'I don't need to calm down! I just need to see him get humiliated and eat dirt!'_

 _'So… basically what you went through? The full course?'_ A dragon asked curiously.

 ** _'SHUT UP!'_**

 _'A sore point, I see.'_ The fire horse noted.

 _'Finish that prick with the pose of dominance!'_ Wacky yelled at Joy. _'Remember what I taught you earlier?!'_

 _'The T Pose?'_

 _'Atta girl! That's it! Now finish that prick!'_

 _'Use the super finishing move!'_ The annoying sparking ball of white fur yelled out. _'The ULTIMATE MOVE! Go Joy go!'_

 _'Don't… **underestimate** me!'_

With a guttural roar, dusknoir pushed himself up and conjured the biggest Shadow Ball he ever managed to produce. The size of it was so huge that it dwarfed even him.

The pink ball showed no fear on her face as she leapt upwards into the air, feet together while her arms were held parallel to the ground away from her body by her side. Her eyes pulsed with a blue psychic hue as the earth trembled and pieces of rock, earth, debris around them floated up into the air and congregated to form a golem made of rock and earth. The massive golem took on the shape of the white irritating rodent called Fuzzy, covered and pulsing in blue psychic energy.

"Fuzzy! What have you been teaching Joy?!" The human screamed at the rodent that is squeaking maniacally.

 _'The ULTIMATE MOVE, Vel! **This is it!** This is the day that I had been dreaming of! **An awesome, handsome, dashing, stunning, fabulous living statue built in my image!** I'm so **proud** of you, Joy! GO GET HIIIIM!'_

 _'DOMINATIIIIIOOON! WHEEEEEE!'_

 _'HUMILIATE HIM! DO IT!'_

 _'This is ridiculous! Was this how the Kratos beatdown first panned out?'_

 _'Not exactly, Hulk, but certain details did stay the same.'_

 _'It's official. Kratos, Wacky, and Fuzzy definitely have been bad influences on Joy.'_

Ignoring the noisy chattering in the background, dusknoir hurled his Shadow Ball at the enormous Fuzzy statue. The pink ball merely pulsed in an even greater amount of psychic energy as she made her counter.

 _'Thou shall not pass! Light Screen!'_

A psychic pane appeared at a slanted angle, intercepting the Shadow Ball and deflecting it upwards into the sky, rendering his final attack useless. Before he could even blink, dusknoir found himself snared into place with a Grass Knot. The paralysis from the earlier Thunder Wave doesn't even allow it to move or phase through physical objects now that he had expended most of his strength in firing that Shadow Ball.

 _'Scream it out, Joy!'_ Fuzzy squeaked loudly in delight. _'SCREAM IT OUT AND ETCH THIS ULTIMATE MOVE INTO HIS MEMORY FOR ETERNITY! CARVE IT SO DEEPLY INTO HIS BEING THAT IT WILL MAKE HIM TREMBLE IN FEAR WHENEVER HE REMEMBERS ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT!'_

 _'Like how we did with Kratos?'_ The fire horse stated dryly. _'The-'_

 _'Blasphemy! I do not fear that stupid move!'_

The Fuzzy statue rose with the earth as the pink ball pulled everything upwards with a powerful use of Psychic. The Fuzzy statue made its charge towards dusknoir like a speeding bullet while riding on the massive wave of rock and earth like a raging tsunami.

The pink ball of logic defying acts sucked in a breath as she screamed as one with the annoying lightning ball of white fur.

 _'SUPER…'_

 _'...DUPER…'_

 ** _'OMEGA FUZZY WUZZY PUNCH!'_**

The enormous rock statue collided into dusknoir with a force greater than anything dusknoir had ever experienced before. The wave of rocks fell apart and came tumbling down around him, leaving dusknoir speechless at the ridiculousness and the absurdity of it all.

What… just happened?

 ** _'YES! YES! YEEEEESS! HUMILIATION! YESSSSS!'_**

 _'Kratos, **control** yourself!'_

 _'The Super Duper Omega Fuzzy Wuzzy Punch has been reborn! **Yeeeeesss!** '_

 _'Shut **up** , Fuzzy. Before I make you.'_

 _'Did I… kill him by mistake?'_

 _'No, you didn't. I can still sense him. Good job, Joy.'_

 _'Thanks, Rena!'_

 _'That was a wonderful way of saying hello! We should all BATTLE! HELLO EVERYONE!'_

 _'Chill! **Chill!** '_

 _'That was EPIC!'_ Dusknoir heard Wacky yelling out. _'You ROCK! The T Pose was AWESOME! You totally displayed your dominance there! WHEEEEE!'_

 _'Thanks!'_

 _'Ignoring Fuzzy's bad influence, Joy had come a long way. Good job, Joy.'_

 _'Thank you, Bigblue. Thanks for the kind guidance everyone has given me thus far! Thank you! Thank you everyone!'_

Lying tiredly beneath the wreckage, dusknoir could imagine the admittedly polite little fairy bowing to every single one of those stupid pokemon one by one. But still…

 **What** just happened?

* * *

 **AN: I'm not sure if this chapter surpassed the original beatdown in chapter 12, but I thought a little bit of nostalgia wouldn't hurt and it would show how much the team had grown as a whole. This chapter is more or less just for laughs. If I made you laugh or even brought a smile to your face then this chapter would have fulfilled its purpose. Hopefully it did.**

 **For new and old fans alike who enjoy immersing yourselves in my pokemon universe, as promised, I now have 7 pokemon stories published in total and they are all linked, or will be interconnected intimately in the future. If you are interested, you can find them on my profile page and they are as follows:**

 **I Just Want To Travel The World, MC: Velda Vera**

 **The Sun of Sunyshore, MC: Volkner Tide**

 **Ordinary Researcher, MC: Shannon Juniper**

 **Reach for the Skies, MC: Skye Bale**

 **Rocket's Exterminator, MC: Jayce**

 **Histories of the Earth, MC: Nova Labelle**

 **Fairy Guardian, MC: Akamu Kahale**

 _(Ranked according to the Publish Date from oldest to newest)_

 **Also doing a little advertising here. Out of curiosity I've recently joined a discord server that mainly caters to writers, a place where writers can all hang out, exchange ideas, look for betas, or simply chill and talk. Of course, readers are welcomed to join as well. If any of you want to find me there on the server I'm generally online on discord most of the time. For those who are interested, I will leave the link to the discord server below.**

 **discord . g g / V54pcwA (remove the spaces)**

 **Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Dusknoir, male**

 **18) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **And a whole lot of unidentified ghosts in her shadows**


	45. Chapter 45- Confide

Usually a meeting between representatives of every member region of the PWL would be held at the HQ of the PWL, which is situated on an island that is halfway between each member regions. It is a landmass that is home to many migratory pokemon where they can stop to catch a break on their long journey. Not many are granted an audience here due to the importance of this place to the world.

Unfortunately for me, I will not be visiting PWL's HQ this time. The meeting for the setting up of the International Police and related affairs are held in Johto this year. It is partly because Indigo's National Day is coming up soon and as a show of goodwill, we are all invited by Lance to watch the proceedings as VIPs. Something like this had never been done before. Never had a region invited people of important status from another region to view their National Day proceedings before. This is a sign of improvement, a big step ahead for the larger collaboration that is to come.

The meeting that I will be attending is a meeting between the different representatives of the various regions. The Hoenn League had sent in Drake and Steven together with me. Steven will not be around often enough to help as he is Hoenn's future Champion, but there is a good reason for him to be there for this coming meeting. He is the future Hoenn Champion. This meeting is a very good opportunity to showcase the strength of Hoenn's future Champion to the world. On top of that, Steven can use this opportunity to do some PR-related stuff to strengthen Hoenn's relations with the other regions. Bringing our future Champion along with us also shows Hoenn's sincerity in wanting to help solve this global crisis.

I cannot help but mentally applaud at the Hoenn League's ability to make full use of every single situation to our advantage. I have close to no exposure to politics and I know this is barely the tip of the iceberg, but I still cannot help but be impressed.

Right now, we are on our way to Johto by surfing through the sea route with the S.S. Fury. Drake is the captain of this ship and every single sailor on board are his crew.

"MUAHAHAHA! Come on up, Vel! It's not that bad! The ship's not swaying too much yet!"

"I think I will stay here for a little longer, Drake." I replied from where I am surfing beside the S.S. Fury by riding on Chill's back, an opened umbrella in hand to block out the harsh sunlight with Rena and Fuzzy beside me to keep me company. Chill is also constantly releasing a wave of slight chilly breeze from her body to help me in dealing with the heat. I have no idea why, but I am prone to seasickness whenever I ride on boats and ships. The funny thing is that the same problem does not apply when I surf across the waters with pokemon's help. If I wasn't so sure that this is the world of pokemon that I had landed up in and not the world of Fairy Tail, I might have thought that I am a Dragon Slayer with how bad I am with transportation.

Snap made a rumbling sound as he soared happily beside Drake's own flygon above the ship. Toothless had decided to return to his pokeball after deeming that he had enough flying exercises for today.

"Nice flygon yer have there." Drake complimented as he looked up to the sky with a hand over his eyes to block out the blinding sunlight. The aged captain leaned against the railings on the deck of the ship before speaking _(or more like shouting with how booming his voice is)_ to me below on the ocean surface, purposely using his sailor slang to mess with me since he knows I have a harder time trying to pick out what he is trying to say whenever he uses the slang.

"How yer find it? Buy the fella from somewhere or got it with yer family's connection?"

"Found him in the desert along Route 111. Snap was a trapinch when we found each other." I replied as I watched the only dragon on my team enjoying his flight. "He was my strongest battler until Toothless and Kratos reached their final evolutions."

"I see. I'm not sure if I should call you foolish for going to the desert alone or to praise your bravery." Drake stroked his moustache with an impressed look on his face, his voice going back to normal. "Not many trainers like to go to the desert because of the danger it holds. There's almost nothing to see there. Even I got my flygon from someone else through trading, although that was a long time ago."

"The ruins I found there made the trip worth it. I even took some pictures." I supplied helpfully. "I can show them to you later."

"When we have the time. Come on up, Vel. The sea will be a lot rougher around these parts. It is safer to be on the ship."

Knowing that it is better to heed the advice of a veteran sailor, I whistled for Snap to come down to pick me up. Rena levitated herself onto the ship with her psychic powers while Fuzzy achieved the same effect with Magnet Rise. Chill sang out a happy cry before I returned her back to her pokeball. I could have continued to let her surf beside the ship, but I don't want to risk my airheaded Chill to somehow get herself lost on the vast sea. A storm might also be coming for us anytime today from what I was told earlier this morning. It really depends on which direction the winds might blow the storm clouds to.

Snap put me down gently on the deck of the ship as Lily waddled over to us from her previous position. She was at a corner of the deck bathing in the sunlight. Drake's own flygon landed behind his trainer and I could feel the obvious difference in power between him and Snap. The very presence of Drake's flygon exuded a form of pressure that only the truly powerful gave off. It is an aura that commands obedience from those around it.

Drake walked up to Snap and to my surprise, gave him a slight bow. What surprised me further was that Snap actually reciprocated the action with a dip of his own head seconds later. I went speechless when Snap actually allowed Drake to scratch him at the bottom of his jaw right after. It is his favourite spot to scratch at and he will sometimes ask for me to help him scratch it since his arms are a little too short to do so. However, he had never let anyone other than me touch that area before. That area exposes his neck and most pokemon will not willingly expose such a vulnerable area to any other trainer or pokemon that they barely know.

How did Drake manage to get Snap to open up to him so easily? Is this the ability of a Dragon Master?

"Don't look so surprised. I grew up with dragons since I was a kid, I know how to handle one when I see one. It helps that your flygon is no stranger to human contact."

"Is there a reason why you bowed to Snap?" I asked curiously. "Was that why he allowed you to scratch the bottom of his jaw?"

"Partly." Drake admitted as he fished out some treats from his pockets and popped them into Snap's opened mouth. "But I guess I pretty much smell like a dragon to him since I had been dealing with them my entire life. It helps to build up some sense of trust. You don't know much about dragons, do ya?"

"There isn't much information about dragons other than the fact that you need to earn their respect to be able to command them." I said as I felt my eyes narrowing a little in thought. Not many trainers choose to become a Dragon Specialist due to how hard and dangerous it is to be one. Another factor is also because any in-depth knowledge about dragons is hard to come by. People with such knowledge are usually those who hailed from long-standing families or clans whose people have been living with dragons for centuries and they guard their knowledge about dragon types with great zeal. Lance and Clair from Johto are such individuals.

"Well, that's about as much as you need to know about dragons if we are simply talking about dragons in general." Drake carried on with his impromptu lesson while Lily formed a makeshift shelter by closing her tentacles up together and lifting it over our heads to give us some shade. "At the very basic level, there are two things you need to have before you command a dragon: power and respect."

"Power and respect?"

"Power comes in many forms, but most dragons view power and strength as the same thing. When they assess us trainers, the abilities of the trainer are what they view as our strength. Be it the ability to command them in battle, or the ability to train them to reach new heights and help them to evolve, or maybe something else that they view as worthy enough to be considered as your strength. You need something in you, a quality that the dragon thinks that makes you special and better over other trainers. That something is your strength that they value. The value they place on your strength determines how worthy you are to be able to command them."

"I did help Snap to evolve into a flygon, so I guess that helped?"

"Perhaps. You won't know for sure unless you are able to somehow talk to him." Drake shrugged. "Now, moving on to respect."

Drake cleared his throat a little before continuing.

"Respect is a little more different and delicate. There are many ways to earn a dragon's respect, although that usually comes hand in hand with power. If you are strong enough in terms of power, most dragons will at least have some semblance of respect for you like in the case of me and Snap. Of course, you can also earn it through other means. Maybe you raised it up since it was a baby, maybe you had saved its life once, maybe you had done something for the dragon which it could not have done by itself. That is also several ways to earn a dragon's respect. For dragons, respect is something to be earned from them. It can be hard to earn it but once you do, it takes a lot to lose that respect as well. You will need to mess up very badly for them to lose that respect for you."

I nodded as I listened intently. Drake is not just Hoenn's previous Champion. He is also a Dragon Master and Dad's superior in ACE back when Dad was still in ACE. Any knowledge he chooses to share with me is valuable. Deep knowledge about dragon types is rare to come across and I am learning them directly from a Dragon Master.

"Now, if you ever see a dragon that you happen to come across, be it under the care of another trainer or a wild one, the _first_ thing you should do is to show it some respect. There is a good reason why dragons are so feared. Their growth rate is a little slow, but they have very little weaknesses and they can grow to be absurdly strong. They have a right to be prideful since most of the time they are the apex predator in their natural habitat. When you encounter a dragon in the wild, giving it a slight bow or the space it needs is enough to get you out of trouble so long as you don't do anything to provoke it."

I gave a nod to show that I am following.

"Once they deem you worthy to be in their presence, they may choose to reciprocate the action as well. See how your Snap bowed back to me just now? Some of these behaviours that you can see in dragons can also be observed from pokemon that are not dragons but have certain draconic characteristics. Your charizard and tyranitar, for example. At the critical moment you earned a dragon's respect, they will sometimes show it by giving you a bow. That does not happen very often since not all dragons chose to show their respect to you in the same way."

"Oh." I said in realisation as the memories of what happened after Kratos's battle with feraligatr played out in my mind. It was the first trainer battle we had together which cemented Kratos's respect for me. It was when I had given Kratos his name. Kratos had lowered his head and bowed to me once.

"Experienced something like that before?"

"My tyranitar bowed to me once when he was just a larvitar. Now I know why he did that."

"Explains why that little monster of yours is so protective of you when Sidney was being rude. Insulting a dragon's trainer is the same as insulting them. Your tyranitar is no dragon, but certain things that work for dragons apply to them as well. Scientists had always theorised that the tyranitar species has a dragon for an ancestor anyway, probably a tyrantrum. There are some similarities in their DNA from what I know. It will explain the rock typing. In fact, many believed the extinct tyrantrum species is the ancestor to many of the dragon types that we know today along with some pokemon with draconic characteristics."

Come to think of it, even the charizard species was suspected to have descended from the tyrantrum line one way or another. Just how does pokemon evolution work? On one hand, pokemon can evolve over centuries to become an entire new species on its own. On another, evolution is another word to use for the spontaneous growth a pokemon undergoes when it reaches a certain level of strength.

Just _what_ is evolution?

"I know meeting a dragon in the wild is a rare occurrence, but if you do, **_never_** enter a dragon's personal space without permission. Most dragons will view that as a challenge to their power. For wild dragons, they view it as you are challenging them for their territory. This is why the League blocked off any public access to Meteor Falls every time the breeding season for the wild salamence population comes along. Most idiots have no concept of personal space and salamence gets especially protective of their territory and kin during their breeding season."

Like the three idiots that indirectly caused the deaths of Dad's old team. His ACE partner too, from what I know about that incident.

"Is it… _normal_ for a dragon to be very close to anyone that is not their trainer?" I inquired curiously as a certain black three-headed dragon who loves to cuddle comes to mind. "Like Dad's Chewy?"

"Uh… your father's hydreigon is certainly an oddball." Drake frowned in thought. "Never seen one like that before. Cuddles is certainly not a word found in a dragon's dictionary."

Drake's flygon stamped his foot on the floor twice to get Drake's attention before shifting his gaze to Snap.

"Aha, my boy here wants to have a battle with your Snap." Drake said with a mad glint in his eyes that produces a chill running through my bones even in this hot weather. "Well, I say battle, but it should be more of a little training session. Your flygon is not the best battler I had seen for his species but at least you had raised it _somewhat_ right. What you lack is the knowledge on how to train a dragon properly since the methods to train a dragon differs from species to species. You cannot train a flygon with how you train a salamence like what you had been obviously doing. I assume your brother's the culprit for this since he has a salamence, and I can safely tell you that he is giving you the wrong advice. With the way you are training your flygon, it will only get him so far."

I can now see why Drake was conferred the title of Dragon Master by the PWL. I wasn't expecting him to be able to immediately identify how I had trained Snap with just a glance. Vance had been the one who was providing me advice on how to train a dragon type ever since I had Snap since he has a dragon on his team in the form of salamence. He is the one that I had always gone to for advice when I first started out as a pokemon trainer.

"Well, what yer waiting for?! Get yer flygon in the air! Yer flygon's bad habits needs to be corrected before it's too late! Training a flygon with a salamence's training method is total blasphemy! **_Unacceptable!_** I tell ya!" Drake barked out as his sailor slang returned and Snap immediately shot up into the sky with Drake's flygon. I have a feeling that Drake is just bored out of his mind and wants to do something to entertain himself since it can be very boring on the sea. Still, I won't say no to such a rare opportunity to learn from a Dragon Master, even if it is just learning the most basic of knowledge on how to train a flygon.

I just hope Snap will be able to survive whatever Drake is planning to put Snap through.

* * *

"One minute and ten seconds." I huffed out when I looked at the xtransceiver on my wrist as I tried to catch my breath. Bigblue reverted back to his normal form and Kratos stood beside me while casting worried looks. I waved it off since other than feeling a little breathless, I am otherwise fine.

One minute and ten seconds, that is the maximum amount of time that I can help Bigblue or Kratos maintain their mega evolved form. It is a slight improvement, but it is still not enough. I need to be physically able to help sustain their new temporary form if we want Mega Evolution to be our trump card. We need to be able harness the power properly for it to be of any use to us.

Even till now, no one has a clue on how Mega Evolution really works. Dad had told me that the widely supported theory provided by Professor Sycamore suggested that the pokemon and trainer in question must have a strong bond between each other for Mega Evolution to be invoked. Both pokemon and trainer must have unwavering trust in each other.

I trust my pokemon and I know that they trust me as well. That means that something else is missing from the puzzle.

From what Dad had told me, no one had managed to Mega Evolve more than one pokemon at any given time. To Mega Evolve a second pokemon you need to first deactivate the Mega Evolution of the first one. As usual, no one knew the reason behind it but no one, even the Champions, had managed to Mega Evolve more than one pokemon at the same time. I am also unable to help Bigblue or Kratos Mega Evolve simultaneously. If I want to use Mega Evolution, I will have to choose who I want to Mega Evolve. It's always one trainer, one pokemon at a time. That's the law of Mega Evolution. It's a mystery that no one has managed to solve yet.

The other mystery behind Mega Evolution is why pokemon needed humans to help them achieve Mega Evolution in the first place. What is so special about us humans that pokemon need our help to achieve their 'final' form? No one knew, not even Dad. So, I asked Roxanne, whose family of scholars ought to have a clue about Mega Evolution.

Roxanne had told me that even her clan did not have much progress in this field of research as well, but from what she knew, there was a joint research on this subject conducted by Professor Sycamore and Professor Rowan. They came up with a theory. The theory is that humans have a unique 'energy' within them, for the lack of a better word, that pokemon lack. That 'energy' is crucial to pokemon that can undergo Mega Evolution. The energy is usually dormant within us humans but can be accessed with the help of a Key Stone, another mysterious item that researchers and scientists have not yet been able to duplicate but can sometimes be found if you dug into the earth deep enough. The 'energy' within humans has been theorised to be our own lifeforce. If that theory holds true, then every single time we are invoking Mega Evolution, we are sharing our own lifeforce with our pokemon, using it as the catalyst to help them invoke Mega Evolution.

Assuming that the theory holds some merit, my own spin on things is that my own 'energy', or lifeforce as the scientists call it, is depressingly low even by normal standards, which explains why I am unable to help sustain my pokemon's Mega Evolution for long. The logical part of my mind attributes it to my sickly body. A crazier part of my mind told me that my status as a reincarnated soul is a reason for it as well. Someone who had died once ought to have a lower lifeforce than an average person, right? I mean, I _died_. My lifeforce should have vanished until I somehow found myself here in this world.

I don't know how true my assumption is, but it will explain a whole lot of things. The whole 'energy' and lifeforce thing is so intangible and abstract that no one has a clue on what it is about anyway. Or maybe it is the 'aura' thing that the anime was so hyped about? I don't remember what aura is exactly other than it being a form of energy since I never followed the pokemon anime closely. Is the anime world even a thing here?

Thinking about it just makes my head hurt.

Still, I have to find out. If I am going around trying to fix things, I need to check which universe I am in exactly to be able to even do a proper job.

I check my surroundings again to make sure that I am alone. The ship that I am on has temporarily docked on an island which Drake told me serves as a pitstop for ships travelling between regions. It is where ships going on long journeys can refuel and restock their supplies and the crew can get off the ship and enjoy the sensation of being able to walk on dry land again for a short while. We have one day here on this island until the ship sails off tomorrow morning. I had chosen to seclude myself in a quiet clearing to conduct some training for me, Kratos, and Bigblue in learning how to use Mega Evolution while the rest of my team helps to keep a lookout. I don't want to be the one who leaks the existence of Mega Evolution to the public by accident.

The other thing that had been bugging me ever since I found myself involved with the world's politics is which pokemon world exactly did I wind up in. If there's anyone in the pokemon verse that I know who has a splendid track record in saving the world many times, it would be Ash Ketchum, assuming this is his world.

Although judging by how different this world is from the one I knew from the anime, I doubt this is the world where Ash Ketchum even exists. Still, I need to know for sure. If this is Ash's world, then the plan to save the world might need to change a little to factor him in.

"Jarvis, see if you can find any records of Ash or Delia Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto."

The screen of my xtransceiver blinked as Jarvis obeyed my order without question. I can see Bigblue and Kratos giving me curious looks at the sudden interest in a supposed stranger.

Come to think about it, should I tell my pokemon about my past? Will it be a good idea? I was apprehensive to the idea initially when I first became a trainer but Rena had been surprisingly okay with it when she found out. In fact, she looks totally unbothered by the fact that I had died once. After the events that me and my team had been through together, I like to think that we are close enough to be able to keep such secrets among ourselves, but I won't know for sure. I don't speak pokemonese.

I know I can trust them, but I just have this irrational fear. Will their view of me change once they learn about my past? A past that I will never want to share even with my family? I don't want my family to find out that the daughter and sister that they had been doting on for the past thirteen years was actually once an adult. I don't want to dwell on the possibility that I might be a body snatcher, someone who stole the body from the one who is supposed to be the real Velda Vera.

This is a really bad time to have an identity and existential crisis.

I sat down on the ground as I waited for Jarvis to come back with the results. Using May's age as a gauge, Ash should have been born by now if he exists in this world.

The thing that I am more worried about is the inner debate in my head, whether I should confide to the rest of my team about my reincarnated status. Keeping the secret to only myself and Rena had worked well so far but I feel bad for leaving the rest of them out of the loop. Especially Flamel and Bigblue, who had been with me the longest.

Rena nuzzled against me, bringing me out of my thoughts. The rest of my team are either in their pokeballs or hiding in the shade provided by the huge trees that littered this island.

 _'I sense that your emotions are flickering quite uncontrollably, Mistress. Are you okay?'_

Trust Rena to be able to pick up on my emotions. She is too good at sensing them.

 _'Just deciding if I should tell the rest of the team about my reincarnated status.'_ I admitted to her _. 'I don't know if I should tell them because I have no idea what their reactions might be. I don't want them to view me differently.'_

 _'All of us love you too much to be capable of that. You are special to us, Mistress.'_ Rena spoke telepathically to me in a comforting tone as she squirmed her way into my lap to rest there. I gently stroked her fur as we continued our conversation. _'Maybe other humans might react in the way that you had feared should you tell them of your secret, but I can assure you that none of us here will. You of all people should know how differently humans and pokemon view things.'_

 _'True, but I still cannot help but be a little scared. I know it is an unfounded irrational fear, but I cannot help but to feel this way. I feel bad keeping this a secret from my loved ones. I know I can trust you guys, but…'_

 _'Whether you choose to reveal your secret is entirely your choice, Mistress, but know that we will never betray the trust you have in us, no matter what it may be. There's no need to feel pressured in revealing your secret. You also always have the option to keep it to yourself. If you choose to confide in us, then I can assure you that even the least intellectual of us will stand by you every step of the way.'_

Kratos gave a snort beside me as he narrowed his eyes, as if somehow picking up that Rena had made a jab at him even when he is not privy to our telepathic conversation. Maybe the way that Rena was looking at him as she made the verbal jab gave it away.

Fuzzy suddenly landed in front of me as he waved a coconut around comically. I don't know what he wants, but for some reason seeing him doing that makes me want to laugh. Kel made her appearance as her red eyes glowed from where she was hiding from the sun, prowling within the shadows of the foliage, lingering just long enough for me to know that she was nearby before disappearing into the cover of the shadows once more. Archer is right behind me acting like my bodyguard as per usual. Bigblue is lying on the ground as he snoozed in the sun with Flamel beside him. The rest of my team are in their pokeballs since not everyone appreciates the heat or has no wish to be outside right now.

This is my team of pokemon. The team of magical monsters that are always overprotective of me, loyal to a fault.

I can trust them.

 _'Thank you, Rena. I think I know what to do now.'_

 _'We are always with you, Mistress. Always.'_

I reached for the pokeballs that housed the rest of my team and let them out. My action got everyone's attention immediately, they know that something is up.

I'm not sure if I will ever tell my family, but considering the kind of things we will be involved in in the near future, I know that it's time to confide in my pokemon my secret.

I can trust them.

* * *

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **18) Dusknoir**


	46. Chapter 46- Finding People

Here we are.

I got down from the ship with Rena and Archer beside me. Dolly and Wacky are residing in my shadows alongside the other ghosts and I can feel their curiosity towards this place that we found ourselves in.

Johto's Olivine City, the gateway of Johto towards the outside world.

"A lot sunnier than Hoenn, isn't it?" I looked up to see Steven smiling down at me, his claydol hovering beside him. I can hear Drake's loud voice bellowing in the background as he directed his crew to properly dock the ship.

"Are we good to go?" Drake said as he walked up to us, leaving his crew to properly dock the ship in his absence. "We have a schedule to catch and from what I just found out, we are the last to reach. People have already been waiting for us since days ago."

The four of us walked into a large building that the representatives from various regions are supposed to report to the moment they disembarked at the port. I saw the PWL's symbol at the front of the building the moment we reached it. The symbol of the PWL is simple. It simply has a pokeball as the background with the acronym of its name written over it in white. Simple and to the point.

We checked in with the receptionist at the counter, who gave us security passes when we registered ourselves with our pokedex. We also have to register the pokemon that we are bringing into the building. Steven led us in and we rode the elevator all the way to the ninth floor of the building.

The doors of the lift opened and Steven led us through a long corridor before finally arriving in front of a set of doors. The label on the doors read 'Meeting Room 1'.

This is it. The birth of the International Police, an international organisation that I had helped create. I would be lying if I say that I'm not feeling nervous today.

 _'You will be fine, Mistress.'_

Rena's encouragement lifted my mood a little. She has always been very supportive of me, and I'm glad that I took her advice when we made that pitstop on that island the other day.

Like Rena had said, my pokemon were totally unbothered about my reincarnated status. Dolly pulled me into a hug and chattered non-stop when I admitted the truth and apologised for not telling them sooner. Flamel and Bigblue simply nudged me gently to show their support. Kratos had the cheek to simply yawn and then proceed to nap under the warmth of the sun, giving me a look that screams ' _Did you seriously gather all of us to tell us something that unimportant?_ ' The cheek of him.

At that moment, my emotions were a mixture of happiness and relief. I'm glad that they are my pokemon. I'm glad that I had earned their trust and loyalty. I don't need to hold onto my secrets to myself any longer.

It's really a heavy load off my chest.

"Don't feel too overwhelmed from all the big shots that you will see in the room. Honestly, they are as ordinary as you and I, take it from your Regional Champion."

"Geez, thanks for the pep talk, Steven."

The heir of the Stone family simply gave me an amused smile before he pushed open the doors to the meeting room. It is well-furnished. The floors are carpeted and the tables and chairs are made from the finest wood. Antiques and paintings lined the walls. The portraits of previous Champions and Presidents of Indigo hang at the back of the room, as if overseeing the meeting room itself.

We are not the only ones there.

"Steven, it's nice to meet you and your delegation."

A bespectacled man with purple hair and dressed in a red formal suit went up to us and shook our hands in turn, also greeting Drake and I when he shook hands with us. I recognised him straightaway. He is Lucian from the Sinnoh's Elite Four.

"Lucian." Steven greeted politely as the two trainers met. "It's nice to see you."

"Likewise. I wish we can all meet under better circumstances, but that's what we are here for, to defend the world and make it a better place." Lucian said before turning to me. "And who might you be, young lady? You must be exceptionally skilled to be allowed entrance into this particular meeting."

"My name is Velda Vera. It's nice to meet your acquaintance, Lucian."

Lucian's eyes widened a little in recognition, but returned a smile nevertheless.

"I had heard many things about you, Ms Vera. I look forward to working with you."

"Thank you. And please call me Vel."

"In that case, I insist that you address me by my name as well. None of us here are a stickler for formality and rules, I think we would get along quite well."

Lucian led us to a corner where two more people were at. I recognised them too.

"Steven, Drake, Vel, meet my fellow member of Sinnoh's Elite Four, and also the man who would be in charge of the interpol."

I could never forget who these two people are. Even if they are not Gym Leaders, each of them either have the strength of one or possess a unique skill set that sets them apart from your average Joe.

The Sinnoh League had also sent in Flint together with Lucian to represent Sinnoh in this meeting. There is also Looker, who I vaguely recognised with whatever foreknowledge that I still retain. In this world, he is simply an agent working for the PWL. From what Wallace had told me, the PWL had tasked him to be the director of the interpol. Meaning to say, he will be the superior that I will be working under.

Another round of introduction was done. Flint is a talkative and cheery man that had immediately hit it off with Drake with how similar they are in personality. Steven continues his conversation with Lucian, so that leaves me with Looker.

"Velda Vera, I assume?" Looker and I shook hands as we took a seat nearby. "My codename is Looker, I'm afraid I cannot tell you my real name due to my line of work. I had heard many good things about you. Word has it that if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have this meeting today."

"Words of my exploits had been greatly exaggerated." I replied with a smile. "Wallace told me before I came here that the PWL is appointing you as the Director of the International Police. Please take care of me."

Looker must have some mad skills for him to be considered by the PWL to be the Director of the newly founded International Police. I am an exception since I was the one who came up with the idea of forming the International Police to help put a stop to this prophecy.

Looker gave a short good-natured laugh before continuing our conversation.

"I'm afraid that currently, both of us are the only official members of the International Police. I plan to put together a team of powerful individuals to assist the PWL to help avert the prophecy. A team that can handle anything and everything. I already have a list of candidates, shall we go through the list together later?"

"I… can _decide_ who we should recruit into the International Police?" I asked, feeling a little baffled. I am but a regular thirteen year old girl. Compared to somebody like Looker who is so respected even within the PWL, I don't have much experience in this line of work.

"You are a member of the International Police too. Your input is also equally important." Looker stressed. "I do have my own list of potential candidates but I also want to know if you knew anyone who would be a great fit to what we are going to do in the future."

Our conversation was interrupted when another group of people entered the room. To be specific, two different groups entered the room together.

The delegations from Unova and Kalos.

Unova is being led by Grimsley of Unova's Elite Four. A lady with short yellow hair walked behind him with an aloof yet confident expression. There's no mistaking who she is. She is also a renowned supermodel in the pokemon world and the Gym Leader of Nimbasa City, Elesa.

Meanwhile, the Kalos delegation walked beside Unova's. Leading the team is Siebold of the Kalos Elite Four, also the strongest Water Specialist in their region. The other member of their delegation is Valerie, Gym Leader of Laverre City.

"I see that all the delegations are here other than the ones from Indigo and Alola." Siebold mentioned coolly as everyone in the room began to size each other up. "It's nice to meet all of you. My name is Siebold, the leader of the Kalos delegation."

"Name's Grimsley, leader of the Unova delegation." The pale looking man said as his eyes scanned the room. "Honestly, I thought there will be more of us here with how severe the problem is."

"This meeting is a meeting to decide the direction in which the International Police will be taking. There will be more of us when we need the required firepower to take down the menace plaguing the world." Lucian said amicably. "Hopefully, it will be enough to maintain the hard-earned peace."

"Don't we know it all." Grimsley muttered before taking a seat, letting out a sigh as he did so. "If it wasn't for the fact that the psychics had been so accurate in what they do, I wouldn't even want to be here."

"Well, no one's keeping you here, Grimsley." Siebold said in mild irritation.

"Am I the only one who finds this ridiculous? Are you telling me that if a psychic walked up to you and told you that you will die in a week, you will believe it?"

"This is the PWL's psychics that we are talking about. They are good in what they do."

"And I'm saying that even psychics can be deceived, they don't see everything." Grimsley replied to an annoyed Siebold.

"And you do?"

"No, but I at least show some form of scepticism, unlike you who believed in those tauros crap immediately."

Siebold's eyes narrowed.

"Are you trying to pick a fight, Grimsley?"

"Now, let's all take a step back and relax, okay?" Lucian stepped in to try and defuse the escalating tension, hands raised up in an attempt to placate the two irritated Elite Four members.

"Oh, a _Psychic_ Specialist. You might just be what I need to convince that thick-headed moron. Why don't you help explain more about psychics to us ignorant fools? Can a psychic see all possible outcomes?"

"No. No psychic can, as far as I know of." Lucian admitted, still keeping that polite tone of his despite how he was addressed by Grimsley. "Even for Seer types, they can only see a certain number of futures with their powers. The stronger the psychic, the greater the number of futures they can see, but no psychic can claim to be able to see everything."

"Thank you." Grimsley said exaggeratedly before turning back to Siebold. "See? Told you that psychics don't see everything."

"You know, you can at least show Lucian some _respect_." Flint interrupted from where he is. "He was being polite to you."

"If we have to resort to relying on _children_." Grimsley pointed a finger at me, dragging me into the quarrel without my consent. "Then something is seriously _wrong_ with how the PWL is working. She is too young. Great. Now we have to babysit _kids_ who are thrown in a situation too large for them to handle. This is not like the games or battles that children like her are used to. We are fighting _terrorists_. There is no honour, you fight dirty if you have to. Do you seriously expect a child like her to do something that even we adults struggle to do?"

"Vel may be young, but she is by no means weak if that is what you are insinuating, Grimsley." Steven came to my rescue as he spoke up. "She is also a valuable member to the team."

"Ah, Wallace's favourite, I see. Nice to meet you. What words of wisdom are you going to impart this time?"

"We come together to try and prevent the world from ending, it would not do well if we have any form of in-fighting. I understand if you have doubts about this arrangement, but this is currently the best shot that we have to avert the incoming crisis."

"Hah!" Grimsley scoffed out loud before pointing a crooked finger at Steven. "How _noble!_ Don't act like you _cared_ about the world because in the first place, _none_ of us do! Do you even _know_ what the uprising of Team Aqua and Team Magma spelled for Unova when the Lilycove Invasion happened? It encouraged Team Plasma to launch their own siege as well! Did you know how many died? _A hundred and two_. **_A hundred and two_** people had died if it wasn't for Team Aqua pulling off that invasion which encouraged Team Plasma to do the same. A siege in Unova that could be avoided if Hoenn had kept a better eye on Team Aqua!"

I had heard of the brief uprising in Unova. The invasion of Lilycove had encouraged several villain teams across the world to try something similar. Not all of them are those that I am familiar with in my previous world, there are some that I had never heard of until recently. Team Plasma was one of the more notable ones, launching a siege on Lacunosa Town in Unova if my memory serves me right. I don't know much of it because I was busy dealing with my own nightmares after the Lilycove Invasion at that point in time. I never checked the details about it too after that.

"And you know what? I know most of the hundred and two people there who died. They were ordinary people going about their lives and have no connection whatsoever to Team Plasma. They were slaughtered without mercy simply because they were there at the wrong place at the wrong time. Lacunosa was _my hometown_ and I was too late to help when I arrived." Grimsley whispered softly, but his voice could be heard as clear as day with how quiet the room is.

"My _son_ was among the hundred and two who died. He died trying to help save the town. A _child_ died because we _adults **failed**_ to do our jobs properly."

Grimsley words tugged at my heart, and I think the same goes for the rest of us in the room.

"And now what are we doing? Suddenly the prophecy reveals itself and _all of a sudden_ our respective Governments and Leagues get all buddy-buddy with each other?! **_Don't make me laugh!_** They are just doing it to save their own skin! And _who_ do they send to go to war against those bastards?!" He pointed back at me before jabbing at Steven with his finger.

" _Children_ , Steven. Not like you are any better since you are barely an adult yourself. We are sending _children_ to fight our war while the adults are up there twiddling their thumbs hiding behind the safety of their desks. There is something _wrong_ with this world if we are sending children to fight our wars, _Champion_ , and you know it. They are too young. They should be out there having the time of their lives winning badges and doing whatever children their age should be doing, not out here doing this dirty work. Which genius thought up of this stupid plan anyway?"

"Me." I spoke up and I can feel everyone's gazes turning to look at me. "I don't think anyone other than the Hoenn delegation knows this, but I was in Lilycove when the invasion happened. I was one of the few survivors."

There were a few gasps at the revelation, but I continued.

"I wasn't really sure what was going on back then. A salamence fired a Draco Meteor at the LSDF building. I tried to stop it but I failed. Team Aqua appeared in droves from practically out of nowhere. Everything was a big mess and suddenly everybody was busy killing each other. I was too inexperienced to be on the frontlines, so an officer put me on support duty to pull out those who cannot fight anymore. There were a few other trainers put on support duty like me, about two or three, I think. I cannot remember clearly since it was a big mess. I don't even know their names because they were killed by a Hyper Beam not long after. I nearly died when Team Aqua sent out a berserk machamp to break the frontlines. It nearly killed me. My charmeleon had to force himself to evolve into a charizard to save me. I would have bled out and died if my pokemon didn't manage to get help in time."

I can feel Drake putting a hand on my shoulder as a show of silent support. I looked up to face Grimsley.

"If anyone can understand what your son was feeling when the invasion in your hometown struck, it would be me. I knew I was weak, that I alone cannot help to defend the city, but I tried anyway. I think the same goes for your son because if we don't do it, who will? I never met your son but I know that he had to be a wonderful person with a big heart. I'm sure that _you_ would have risked your life to save Lacunosa if you were in his shoes, just like what your son did. You think we ' _children'_ shouldn't be here, because we are too young but if we can help, no matter how small, then we should help. Nowhere is safe. There's no way you can keep us safe by hiding us because the threat is everywhere."

"Look, if you think telling me your sob story is going to-"

"I was there at the Battle Frontier when the second invasion happened too." I snapped back. "If anyone knows how being in a war feels like, **_I_** do. It is precisely because of my experiences that I am now fighting to prevent another war from happening again. War is horrible, we know that. What we also know is that it will be catastrophic if another war breaks out, especially one on a global scale. Need I remind you that there is a possibility that the legendaries may get themselves involved as well? I am not going to let another soul experience a war again, not if I can help it. That's why I'm here. That's why I proposed this idea in a desperate attempt to stall our Governments and Leagues to dissuade them from the idea of warring against each other. Your son died trying to protect what he believes in and yet here you are _spitting_ on his ideals."

Grimsley looked furious with how his fists are clenched and his eyes dangerously sharp. His bisharp stood loyally by him and I think it is starting to think of me as a threat to its trainer. Archer picked up on the hostility, buzzing his wings and stood protectively in front of me just as Rena did. Dolly and Wacky made their appearances known as my shadows swirled.

"Guys, stand down. He's not going to attack."

My pokemon shot me worried looks, but a look from me made them stand down reluctantly. I know Grimsley is emotionally compromised from what he let known to us, but I continued. If we want to make this work, we need to be a team, not just a mishmash of talented trainers randomly put together like a bowl of crudely made salad.

"Every one of us are handpicked for a reason. We are supposed to be the best in what we can do. This is a gathering of the various Thirteen Pillars of every region and other bright minds we can offer, and _this_ is what we amount to? Petty squabbling? If this is all we are capable of then it doesn't matter what plans we come up with, because none of it will work if we cannot put aside our differences to solve the global threat banging on our doors."

I can see some of them looking away. They know my words had some truth in it.

"That is quite enough, Vel."

A swirl of shadows engulfed a corner of the room before four people made their entrance with Shadow Sneak. Agatha of Kanto hobbled to us with that typical 'click-click' sound of her wooden cane. A woman walked beside her, and I recognise her to be Lorelei, a former member of Indigo's Elite Four just like Agatha. A harried looking young man caught up to them. He is Bill, the inventor of the modern Pokemon Storage System. The last man is a dark-skinned man who shares a striking resemblance to Professor Samuel Oak. However, the tribal looking chain he wore around his neck made it obvious that he is from Alola.

"Grimsley."

"Agatha." Grimsley greeted somewhat respectably. This is _Agatha_ , one of the most revered trainers in the world. Even the various Regional Champions have to show her some respect in her presence. "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Neither do I. My condolences to your loss. Your son is a great man."

"What use is it if he is _dead?_ " Grimsley spat bitterly. "If only-"

"That's why we are here to put a stop to this, to start to make a _change_." Agatha pressed on as her gengar emerged from the shadows and pulled a chair over for her to sit. "Do you want another parent to experience the loss of their children? Because of the actions of criminal groups in our respective regions?"

"...No." Grimsley replied softly, fists clenched.

"Then all the more reason why we should get our act together to prevent the world from coming to a foretold end. _You_ were chosen to be here for a reason, the same as the rest of us here. We _need_ your strength. We need you to help us in our cause to rid this world of the cancer plaguing it. Can you do it? If not for us, then for your son. Can you do it?"

"…Yes." Grimsley gritted through his teeth, his head held down and his body shaking slightly. His fists are still clenched.

Agatha then turned towards the rest of the delegations that were sent here.

"What about you guys? Can you pansies do it?"

"Yes." Was the collective murmur heard in the room.

"I'm afraid you people have to speak louder. I am getting on in my years and my hearing isn't as good as before."

A louder "Yes" reverberated across the room.

"Good." Agatha said as she gave a little stretch, making a pop resounding across the room. "Ah, it seems that this bag of old bones isn't working as well as before. Let's not waste time, shall we get on with today's agenda?"

Nobody dared to say anything else after _Agatha_ had spoken. The only thing we could do was to take our seats as the very first meeting to help save the world started.

This is the first step to help save the world.

* * *

Despite the shaky first impression when Grimsley started mouthing off, the meeting went surprisingly well. Concerns were mentioned, plans were made, and work was delegated.

The meeting was efficient. Everyone was given a fair chance to take turns and voice their opinions while the rest listened. Within a few hours, we had sorted out the most pressing issues and decided the order of priority of these problems which we were to solve. There are many types of problems plaguing our regions. There are problems that cannot be solved by pokemon trainers or professions related to pokemon, but that is not the agenda for the International Police or the PWL. What we are focusing on are the problems that can be solved by us, problems relating to pokemon.

There are a few things that everyone agreed on. For one, it would not be wise for the International Police to be solely made up of capable trainers whose expertise are in pokemon battling. The issues that the International Police will be solving ranges from resolving pokemon migratory patterns to busting terrorist organisations. We need to be more than just good at battling. We need to be capable of handling anything and everything related to pokemon. As long as it is pokemon related, we _need_ to be able to solve it.

We need people from various fields. We need a team made up of individuals that possess unique and invaluable skill sets, abilities that nobody else possesses.

The leader of every region's delegation had handed Looker a list of potential candidates from their region for Looker and me to look over. However, there is one person that Looker is particularly interested and adamant on trying to include into the International Police and there happened to be people in the meeting who know him very well.

That person is Volkner Tide, the previous and 42nd Gym Leader of Sunyshore.

Volkner is a world-renowned trainer that is widely recognised for his capabilities as a trainer. He was the strongest Electric Specialist of Sinnoh until he resigned from his Gym Leader position. The reason for his resignation was undisclosed to the public, but Flint and Lucian explained that it is because Volkner was about to get married at that point in time and decided to quit his hectic job. Another reason was that his wife is a Johtonian and Volkner had long since decided to move to Johto even before their marriage. Riley took over the position as Gym Leader of Sunyshore after Volkner's departure.

And yes, this is one reason why I am currently determined to find out just what world I am in. In this world, Riley is the Gym Leader of Sunyshore, Volkner was the **_former_** Gym Leader of Sunyshore. I don't know and don't remember enough about the Gen 4 games regarding things about Gym Leaders retiring from their positions, so it may be needless worry on my part.

Nevertheless, things are different here and I need to know _why_.

It is not just because Volkner is such a powerful trainer to the extent that even Cynthia would be wary of facing him in battle that Looker wanted to add him into the International Police. Volkner's list of achievements is so long that it cannot be properly summarised. His contributions to Sunyshore City and to Sinnoh are undeniably significant. He is definitely special enough to warrant such attention Looker is giving him.

To keep things simple, not only is he an extremely powerful and skilled trainer, Volkner is an expert when it comes to busting criminal organisations. His skills are something that we really need right now.

Before Volkner became the Gym Leader of Sunyshore, the city was a mess and that was an understatement. Due to the way the city was originally built and the geographical makeup of the city, crimes were rampant because it is too difficult for the police to travel to and fro the city to apprehend criminals before they can make their getaway. In just a few years after Volkner took up the position as Sunyshore's Gym Leader, he single handedly drove down the crime rates to the extent that it resulted in Sunyshore's GDP to triple. He helped design and built solar panel bridges that connected the entire city, making it easier for its inhabitants to travel around and meeting the city's energy needs at the same time.

Not only that, he was the one who played a major role in suppressing Team Galactic. During Team Galactic's debut about three years back, things were extremely serious due to how aggressive Team Galactic was during their uprising. Volkner was the Sinnoh League's response to solve the problem. He crushed them so mercilessly that to this date, the remnants of the organisation are still hiding themselves in Mt Coronet to wait for the right time to rebuild their forces for a second uprising. It is because of him that Sinnoh was, and still is the safest region to live and travel in. Sinnohans adored him for his contributions to Sinnoh. Sunyshore citizens love him more than they love their Champion because of what he did for them.

After knowing all this, it is obvious at a glance that people like Volkner are what the International Police needs. The current Thirteen Pillars of every region are not able to join the International Police because their usual workload already makes them very busy and they cannot leave their cities for extended periods of time. We need people who are close or equal to the Thirteen Pillars in terms of capabilities and worth. Volkner is the perfect candidate to fill our ranks. His firepower, experience, knowledge, leadership capabilities. All of it is invaluable for what the International Police is about to do.

What took me by surprise are Flint and Lucian's warnings when it comes to trying to recruit Volkner into our team.

"Not to be a downer, but I doubt that you guys will succeed in roping him in. Volk absolutely hates getting himself tangled in politics."

"Flint's right. Even back when he was still a Gym Leader of Sunyshore, he had always done things his way without caring about our opinions. The only reason why his presence was tolerated by Cynthia was because he does produce results that none of us can reproduce, and also because President Ashley was adamant on having him among the Thirteen Pillars. He wasn't a Gym Leader by choice, that position was forced upon him. It took him seven years to get out of there. I don't think the two of you would be able to convince him to get involved in something this huge so soon after his retirement."

"You can _force_ somebody to be a Gym Leader?" I asked, feeling very confused.

"We never knew the exact details because Volk didn't share. I knew him since we were little boys and even I don't know about it." Flint sighed. "Anyway, the fact that this meeting is held at Olivine is convenient for us. Volk lives at Olivine and I know exactly where he lives. I will bring you to see him, but it is up to you two to convince him to join us because… well, personal reasons. I really don't want to be the one to get him tangled in politics once more and I honestly prefer if he remains out of it. But I'm warning you, convincing him to help you guys is definitely going to be very difficult."

"The information I have on him also suggests that he is not one who enjoys working with others." Looker mused as he flipped through the documents that detailed Volkner's profile during his time as a member of Sinnoh's Thirteen Pillars. "But we must try, for the sake of protecting this world."

"Since the kind of work you guys will be involved in are not solely limited to crime management, it will be wise for the International Police to recruit experts that may not be trainers, but whose jobs are related to pokemon in some ways." Grimsley spoke up as he pushed forward a stack of papers but tapped his finger on one particular file.

"If you need a Pokemon Researcher, I highly recommend Shannon Juniper, niece of Cedric Juniper. She may be young, but she is already one of the brightest minds our region has to offer for anything related to pokemon. Her specialisation lies in Pokemon Migratory Patterns and Biology but she's so smart that she could probably earn a Master's degree in anything else within a week. Already, she had contributed groundbreaking discoveries on pokemon migratory patterns and evolutionary stones even at her young age. However, I'm not sure if she is keen on joining a group like yours. From what I know, she is also very risk averse. She is also not a trainer, so you cannot rely on her when it comes to battles."

"I know of her. She recently uncovered the secret behind evolution when it comes to evolutionary stones." Steven spoke up excitedly. "I for one am interested in meeting her."

"Now is not the time for you to geek out over stones, Steven." Drake reminded Steven, who laughed it off awkwardly.

"Shannon and I keep in contact from time to time." Grimsley continued, ignoring Steven's tendency to geek over stones. "Coincidentally, she's currently in Johto assisting and learning under Professor Elm. If you want to recruit her to your cause now is a good chance to do so."

"What are the odds that all of our recommended candidates are currently here in Johto on their own volition?" Siebold said as he too, handed Looker several files. "A good friend of mine is a historian on pokemon myths and legends. It is an area that not many choose to specialise in, but considering that each of our region's legendaries might be involved due to the nature of the prophecy, Nova is the best there is in Kalos when it comes to anything you need to find out and uncover about legendary and mythical pokemon. This is not made known to the public and I cannot share too much, but she had helped a lot in uncovering certain secrets of Kalos' legendaries. Also, she is in Johto as well. She's helping out in a collaboration to study the Ruins of Alph, to be exact. I can go give her a visit if the both of you are agreeable on trying to recruit her."

"I never thought that there would be an expert on legendary and mythical pokemon." Looker said as the both of us quickly looked through Shannon Juniper's and Nova Labelle's profiles. "Huh, her works and skills may prove to be crucial if the prophecy really involves legendaries and mythicals. It also helps that she is also an Elite trainer that can hold her own in battles."

"I think having a pokemon researcher is a good idea too." I voiced my opinion. "If Volkner joins us, he alone is already more than enough if we want firepower. What other kinds of experts should we consider?"

"When it comes to dealing with the unknown, information is key. I myself would prefer if we could get someone who is proficient in information gathering." Looker said as he quickly looked through the profiles of the rest of the submitted candidates with me. None of it had the skill set Looker spoke of.

"You mean like a spy?" Agatha asked. "The only way you could find one is if you ask a League to provide you one and even then I don't think anybody would be comfortable with parting with their own spies. They are few in numbers and extremely valuable. Not only are spies hard to train, they are often on long undercover missions and they tend to die young on the field. The Indigo League had tried sending spies to infiltrate Team Rocket. We never succeeded. They always got found out and got themselves killed."

Team Rocket is one major problem the International Police will have to deal with as well. If even professionally trained spies could not infiltrate the organisation, who can?

"I will talk to Lance and see if he can spare you one." Agatha continued her speech. "No promises though."

"I'm afraid my region has nothing much to offer." Samson Oak, the representative from Alola, finally spoke up. "My region is always in disarray due to the Ultra Beasts problem and also from the lack of a real functional regional League. We have no shortages of skilled trainers but they are all preoccupied with trying to defend their islands from constant attacks by the Ultra Beasts. I'll liaise with my League to see if they can offer an alternative to contribute to our cause."

Out of the seven member regions, Alola had always been the most disorganised and poor due to Ultra Beasts rampaging across their lands. It got to the point that they don't even have their own regional Pokemon League Tournament, because travelling within their region is just that dangerous. Nobody had successfully solved the Ultra Beasts problem because from what I now know from this meeting, these creatures cannot be caught by any known pokeball. Not only that, these creatures are insanely strong. Even if you managed to put it down somehow, there's no way to capture it. It will always come back to fight for a second round once it has escaped and recovered its strength. The only thing Alola can do is to beat it back. Alola incurred many casualties every year due to the random sieges Ultra Beasts conducted on their islands and cities.

Hence, none of us are surprised at Samson Oak's words. Out of the many regions, Alola is one of those that desperately needs PWL's help right now.

"What do you say to having an ex-Gym Leader, a Pokemon Researcher, and a historian joining our ranks, Vel?" Looker looked towards me when he asked for my opinion. From the looks of it, he is very satisfied with the candidates that the various region's representatives had recommended to join the International Police.

On my end, I don't see a reason to object to the recommendations. If the various region's representatives had so heavily recommended them to join us, then they must have unique skills that their respective League thinks that we need. They are all experts in their fields, one way or another.

I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of the meeting room. It's night, but not overly late yet.

"I think we should try recruiting them. You said that Volkner lives at Olivine, right?" I turned to Flint, who nodded his head in affirmation.

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you think Volkner will mind if we pay him a visit right now?"

* * *

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **18) Dusknoir**


	47. Chapter 47- Unexpected Meeting

I'm _pretty sure_ that Olivine doesn't have a place called the West Forest in whatever canonical games or story there is about pokemon.

Then again, what do I know? This world is now my reality, not the fictional games that I was once familiar with.

"So, you are saying that Volkner lives in _there_?"

Flint nodded with his hands in his pockets as we stood right outside the dense woods known as the West Forest of Olivine. It's a _very huge_ piece of land and according to Flint, it is private property. Volkner had bought the entire piece of land here and built himself an entire freaking _forest_ to live in. How he managed to do it, I don't know. All I know is that it's dark because it's night and there are no street lamps or the sorts to light our way because this is a legit _forest_. From what I know, many types of wild pokemon live there and they are not friendly towards strangers. According to Flint, they are also scarily protective of Volkner and his wife.

"This is the furthest I can bring you." Flint said as he pointed to the "NO TRESPASSING" wooden sign in front of us. There is also a small paragraph that states that the owner of this land is not responsible for any idiots who ended up as pokemon food should they choose to trespass. Yes, it really said that. It even has a crude and childish drawing of a menacing luxray right at the bottom of the sign drawn in crayon with its fangs bared and a speech bubble above it that says 'RAWR'.

This Volkner must be a weirdo.

"You are really not coming?" Looker looked at Flint, who merely sighed.

"I was the one who was responsible for saddling him with the responsibilities of a Gym Leader against his will, and I am his best friend. I don't want to do that to him a second time if I can help it. I hope you can understand."

"It's fine." I quickly reassured the Fire Specialist before turning back to look at the dense and dark forest in front of us. "But how do we navigate through this? Follow the dirt path?"

"Yeah, it will bring you there if Hippie didn't get the drop on you and teleport you out in a jiffy."

"Hippie?"

"A hypno." Flint shrugged. "A hypno that takes great joy in teleporting any trespassers out of the forest the moment it senses them. Think of it like the forest's gatekeeper. Good luck to you guys trying to avoid Hippie. That hypno probably already got a lock on your location as we are speaking and is waiting to boot you guys out the moment you two take a single step inside."

"We will be fine." I said as Dolly emerged from my shadows. "Night is when my ghosts work best."

Flint raised an eyebrow upon spotting Dolly.

"Well, good luck then. Hopefully you didn't catch Volk in a bad mood or anything. I'm going back to carry on to do whatever work I have to do. Tell him I said hi and I will visit him some other day."

"Will do."

With that, Flint walked off after waving us a lazy goodbye.

"Dolly?" I asked and Dolly chattered excitedly in return. She had probably already figured out where our destination should be since according to Flint, the only humans living in there are Volkner and his wife. It is easy for Dolly to differentiate the difference between sensing a human and a pokemon. Shadow Sneaking us straight to Volkner's house while avoiding that Hippie should be doable for her.

Shadows swirled around Looker and I as Dolly prepared to bring us in with a Shadow Sneak. It is night, it is where shadows are the darkest and longest and where my ghosts can work at full power. Officially, I only have Dolly, Wacky, and the disagreeable dusknoir that still doesn't listen to a single word I say as my only ghost pokemon. Unofficially, I have a little army of ghosts living in my shadows and would often help me with whatever small favours I ask of them. I don't even fully know how many there are and what species of ghosts had decided to come along with me since not all of them appeared before me whenever I called for their help.

The shadows engulfed us and when it finally disappeared, Looker and I are now standing in front of the door of a two-story cottage that looks _a lot_ like the Glitter lighthouse of Olivine City. Did Volkner really modelled his home after a _lighthouse?_

Looker was reaching out a finger to press the doorbell when it happened.

Dolly hissed as a Psybeam hit her from out of nowhere and she spiralled in the air before righting herself. Wacky immediately emerged to stand in front of me and fired a Night Shade back at where the Psybeam came from. A hypno sneered at us as it used a Psychic to dispel the Night Shade, the swing of its pendulum getting faster and faster.

"We are not here to fight!" Looker immediately exclaimed to the hypno with his hands up in a gesture of peace. I don't know how this hypno locate us this fast or if she happened to be here by sheer dumb luck, but sneaking up to us like that already shows that the hypno is well-trained.

The hypno merely sent Looker flying with its psychic powers even before a wild sableye could emerge from my shadows to help me try and protect him. A blink later, Looker disappeared.

 _Teleport?_ Was that hypno's work? That was really fast.

"Looker!" I shouted as I turned my head to look around for him. I don't want to fight, especially right at the doorstep of a former Gym Leader, but this aggressive hypno isn't giving me much of a choice. I also really have no idea what happened to Looker. I don't think the hypno had really hurt him, but this hypno doesn't really seem all that amicable either.

Damn it. Talk about leaving a good first impression.

Wacky and the hypno engaged in close combat as the hypno zipped around Wacky with successive usages of Teleport while firing its psychic attacks. More and more ghosts emerged from my shadows to help Wacky.

"Don't hurt the hypno! We are only here to talk!"

Hypno snorted at my words as it blasted everyone back around it with another Psychic before it started to pulse with a dangerous amount of psychic energy. I called out Kel on reflex, not really wanting to know what the hypno is planning next. Kel is the best option I have since she is a dark type that is also smaller in size. Kratos and Hulk are too big and destructive and I don't want to accidentally demolish Volkner's house.

"Alright, Hippie, cut it out."

A lazy voice sounded from above and we all looked up. A sleepy looking yellow haired man leaned himself against a window on the second floor with his head poking out. His blue eyes turned to look at me, not revealing his inner thoughts.

"Ghost Specialist?"

"Uh…" I blinked my eyes as I tried to come up with a response to that random question the former Gym Leader of Sunyshore just asked, like he is simply talking about the weather. "Not _really_. Most of the ghosts you see here are wild. We are just friendly with each other and they love to tag along. Officially, I am a Generalist."

"Huh." This man who has to be the Volkner we are looking for has a very thoughtful look on his face upon hearing my answer. "Interesting. Got in here with Shadow Sneak, I assume? That's one of the few ways that can get past Hippie's senses like that. How old are you even?"

"Thirteen."

"You are not from here. You don't look like a Johtonian or a Kantonian."

"I'm from Hoenn."

"And what does a thirteen year old little girl from Hoenn want to do with poor old me? I'm retired."

"I'm from the PWL." I stated and immediately Volkner raised his eyebrows. "My colleague and I were here to talk to you about something. Erm, about my colleague-"

"He should be fine. Hippie wouldn't hurt any other human without a good reason to." Volkner said with a yawn. "I know Looker. Not on a personal level, but I heard of him and he just spells bad news for me because he's from the PWL. I'm not going to see him. Your timing though, I swear. First that old ninja, now you."

The door swung open by itself without a sound.

"Come on in. Take it as a reward for managing to do what many others failed to. Congratulations, at least you didn't end up as pokemon food. That's better than 90% of the trespassers already."

Wait, what? Did he really feed people to pokemon as _food?_ He's joking, right?

Volkner disappeared as he headed back inside, presumably to greet me within his house on the first floor. My attention was brought back to the hypno when it made another audible sneer at me before it disappeared in a crackle of Teleport.

I guess there's my invitation.

Volkner walked down the stairs of his house just as I entered. The front door closed shut right after my entry even without anyone touching it, so it's either probably some sort of automated door or a psychic pokemon is helping Volkner to open the door for me while hiding from view. There are many photo frames hanging about in the house and I cannot help but take a look at it. I see Volkner together with a woman in many of them, who is probably his wife. I cannot help but think that I had definitely seen that woman _somewhere_ before. She looks _very_ familiar.

"If you are done trying to pry into my personal life." I jolted when Volkner's lazy voice drawled from where he was in the living room, already sitting on a sofa and pouring some tea for us. "Get on with it. What does the PWL want from me?"

My ghosts had all returned back to my shadows by now except for Dolly who is still hovering beside me. I had also returned Kel back to her pokeball. I sat myself down opposite Volkner, previously the strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh. He is also someone who is Flint's equal in terms of strength and rumours had it that he was supposed to replace Bertha as the next Elite Four until Volkner just tendered his resignation out of the blue.

A jolteon stretched and gave an audible yawn from where it was laying at a corner of the house before trotting to Volkner's side and nuzzled its head into his hand.

"Hey Jo." Volkner said as he patted the jolteon tenderly with a hand. "Sorry if we woke you up."

The jolteon merely affectionately nudged its head against Volkner's hand once more before turning to look at me with unconcealed curiosity. Volkner's eyes went back to stare at me, waiting for my answer.

"I will be blunt." I said because Volkner really looked as if he doesn't have much patience to spare. "I'm from the International Police."

"Never heard of that."

"It's a new organisation that was just set up by the PWL. Our existence is not exactly public yet." I continued. "We need new members, people with unique skill sets that can help our cause. You are one of the people that we want to recruit."

"Nope, rejected." Volkner immediately waved it off with a hand. "Alright, the door's that way. See yourself out. Good night."

I mentally gave a sigh. Flint had already warned us about this but experiencing it first hand is another matter entirely.

"The world is at stake." I blurted out. "This is highly confidential and something only the Thirteen Pillars of every region would know, but _all_ of the PWL's psychics have foretold a prophecy that might spell the end of the world. That is the real reason why the International Police were set up. We don't know what is the problem that causes this prophecy to be made in the first place, but we are going to try our best to stop it. All seven regions are in on it. The International Police are going to be composed of powerful and unique individuals for that cause. You are one of the people that we really need in our team. Please, Volkner."

"So?" Volkner questioned. "I'm gonna slave myself out just because they ask me to? I had **_enough_** of this political shit. _I'm_ always the one being called upon to solve the problems of others and let me tell you, girl, I'm only _mortal_. There's a limit to how much I can do and I am not the wonder cure to every single problem in the pokemon world. Tell the PWL to shove it and find somebody else. I'm not in a good mood today. The fact that you are a child is the only reason why I allowed you into my house because I have a soft spot for children."

The door to his house opened by itself once more and he jabbed a thumb at it.

"Out."

I'm pretty sure that there is an incredulous look on my face.

"Does the _end of the world_ mean nothing to you?"

"I don't really care at this point." Volkner deadpanned. "If you've been through the shit I've been through, everybody claims that everything is the end of the world. You get used to it after a while."

"The _PWL's psychics_ foretold this. This is not any baseless-"

"I. **Don't**. Care." Volkner emphasised with a look of annoyance. "It took me _seven_ long years to free myself of my responsibilities, responsibilities that I never wanted. I'm not going back to that hellhole. Like I said, tell the PWL to shove it up their ass. Find someone else that can do the same job. Pretty sure there will be such people running around if you bothered to look. The world is a big place."

"It is _precisely_ because _nobody_ can do the job as well as _you_ could that we are trying to recruit you!" I tried to hold back my frustration as I said this. "I saw your track record, it is stellar, what you did to improve Sunyshore and Sinnoh. We need you, Volkner. The world needs you."

"And my wife needs me too." He snapped back. "We've been separated more than we are together ever since we know each other because of that damn job. _Gym Leader. Thirteen Pillar._ I **_never_** wanted it. Now we are _finally_ married and together I have to _go back_ out there just because you guys called me over to join your little party? **No** bloody way. Not after what my wife and I have to go through. Get out, before I get Hippie to make you. I'm already being very generous because you are just a kid, a kid that does not know how dirty things can be out there in the real world full of scheming politicians."

"I know. I _know_ that I'm just a kid." I gritted my teeth. "That's _why_ I need adults like you to help."

"By sacrificing another seven years of my time, is that it? The Sinnoh League blackmailed me to take on the position of Gym Leader. So is that what the PWL will do too? Huh? What will they blackmail me with this time? _Enlighten me_ , oh great agent of the interpol, saviour of the world."

I didn't say a word because I have no idea what Volkner's past is. In any case, it is obvious that he had been treated unfairly while under the employment of the Sinnoh League and he is holding an obvious grudge.

"I don't know how long this will take." I gulped as I spoke my heartfelt thoughts. "But all I know is that if we don't give our best and recruit the people best suited for the job and build the best team we can, the world might not even have seven years left for all we know. You are the best we can find when it comes to crime management and we really need your help. Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Plasma. You know it. **_You_** _know_ how dangerous they really are. We need your expertise, Volkner."

Volkner gave another frustrated grunt as he dragged a hand across his face.

"I should have just let Hippie teleport you out." He muttered before giving the clock a glance. "It's ten already, huh? Jarvis, give me Jas' location would you?"

I froze. How does he know-

A porygon-z that's not mine poked its head out of the television as the words 'BLACKTHORN' flashed across it briefly before disappearing. My porygon-z poked its head out of my x-transceiver, curious why another trainer would want to give him orders and also curious about meeting another porygon-z. Volkner merely raised an eyebrow at the sight of Jarvis as both our porygon-z stared at each other, their yellow eyes erratically sending out blinking light signals as though communicating through a series of coded messages.

"You even have a porygon-z too? Those are rare and it took me gambling at Celadon for an _entire_ day to get my hands on a porygon. Good times. How did you get yours? And oh, meet my porygon-z. His name's Jarvis."

"His…" My throat suddenly felt very dry as I tried to form a reply, my mind is screaming at me that this is _impossible_ , but there is **_no_** other explanation that I can think of.

"His name is Jarvis. My porygon-z's name is also Jarvis."

The words came out of my mouth automatically. This time, it is Volkner who froze as his eyes slowly wandered back up to meet mine. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke up.

"Like, Iron Man kind of Jarvis?"

"... Yes."

The looks on both our faces made me sure that we are both thinking about the same thing at this moment.

 _Fuck._

* * *

We both didn't say a word after we both confirmed the fact.

We are both reincarnated souls.

"This is really not my day. I really regret letting you in here right now." Volkner said tiredly as he slumped on the sofa he was sitting on and facepalmed. "Fuck this, I'm _retired_. I'm not supposed to deal with this kind of shit any longer."

"Don't we know it all." I muttered as I tried to soothe the incoming migraine my head is about to experience after trying to digest everything that we revealed to each other. He's been here for close to twenty-eight years. This is also the first time he saw someone like him who had memories about a different life in a different world.

Volkner gave another sigh.

"In any case, Vel, I'm not going to join this stupid International Police crap. Get somebody else. _I'm retired._ I'm really too tired and sick of this entire League fiasco. Jas and I are about to start a family too. This is no time to go around the world hunting for criminals."

I can sympathise with him after what he told me. As it turns out, Jasmine, the Gym Leader of Olivine is actually his wife. No wonder the woman in the photo looked so familiar. They had known each other since long ago, even before they became Gym Leaders but hardly saw each other due to their work that separated them into two different regions. Despite the difficulties in maintaining a long-distance relationship, they still gave their relationship a go and ended up falling in love with each other. Volkner quit being a Gym Leader to be with her after he finally managed to get out of the Sinnoh League's employment. They were about to try and start a family. I really came in at the wrong time.

And from what little he revealed, he was practically a slave to the Sinnoh League until he freed himself more than a year ago. It was then that he finally had the chance to marry his wife. He really doesn't want to go back to busting criminal organisations all day long and the work the International Police is doing will definitely take years to complete. He and Jasmine are no longer young and they really want to start a family soon.

"Flint was right. It's hard to convince you." I sighed before looking back up at him with a smile. "Thank you though, for letting me know that I'm not alone."

He snorted.

"Unluckiest day in my life to have met you. Stupid afro head. Why the hell must he bring you here?" He rolled his eyes but his words had no real bite to it. "So, you've only been a trainer for two years?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"For a newbie trainer, you are not half bad. But that's it. _Not half bad._ " He yawned as he stretched his arms. "If you _really_ want, I can probably give some advice about handling a few bad guys if you give me a call, but no way in hell I will go back to that kind of life. I promised her that I will quit for good. Jarvis."

Our two porygon-zs poked their heads out again. It happening once made a funny sight, anything more than twice is getting downright confusing.

"No, not you. _My_ Jarvis." Volkner made a shooing motion at my Jarvis with his hand before going back to speaking with his. "Give Vel my number."

My x-transceiver lighted up as a new contact saved itself into it. I gave Volkner a deadpan stare.

 _"Fourth Hokage?"_ I deadpanned as I read the contact name his Jarvis saved into my x-transceiver. " _Really_ , Volkner? _Fourth Hokage?_ "

"To be fair, my other moniker back then was the Yellow Flash, I kid you not." He said matter of factly as he sipped on his drink. "My electric types are just that fast. All I need left to complete the look is a Rasengan. Come to think of it, an Electro Ball will probably do fine as a substitute for a Rasengan. Should ask Franky to try out some other time."

"You're a nerd."

His jolteon gave a yip in agreement. Volkner simply ignored it and took another sip of his drink before looking back at me.

"I don't think I have to remind you, but whatever that is said between us today-"

"-stays between us and only us." I completed his sentence. At least that is one thing we can agree on. We don't want anyone else, including our loved ones in this world, to find out who we really are.

"Good." He nodded his head before asking another mundane question. "You got any electric types?"

"A pachirisu." I stated. "Mischievous as heck."

"They are all like that." Volkner sighed. "Mine's a real troublemaker. Never thought about getting another stronger electric type? You do know that being in the International Police is a dangerous thing in itself, right?"

"I already have a lot of pokemon to raise. I don't know if I can handle another one on my team." I said truthfully. "And I do have quite a number of powerhouses required for my new job."

"I see." He nodded as he adopted a thinking pose. "How long will you be staying at Olivine?"

"A few days at least. We still have some paperwork to complete and things to do."

"I'm not joining your little party but I can do something, from a friend for another." He offered. "I can teach you what I know in the few days you are here. A little crash course before you go about doing your job. How about that?"

I perked up. Reincarnated soul aside, the man in front of me was a _Gym Leader._ Not only that, he climbed his way up to be the _strongest_ Gym Leader of Sinnoh through his own efforts and that kind of title is not up there for show. He is someone who can easily pose a serious challenge for any regional Champion. Learning under someone like him is not an opportunity that will present itself everyday.

"I will like that."

"Then it's settled." He yawned once more. "I teach you what I know, and then you get out of my hair. Think of it as a compromise."

"Not that I don't appreciate your help because I do, but I don't think the PWL will be satisfied-"

"I don't give two shits about them." He cut me off. "Either they take this offer or they buzz off."

I smiled back. From what I gathered, even with his crass attitude and dismissive behaviour, Volkner is not an unpleasant man. He just really doesn't like to work with authority given his experiences with them. If you look past his words, he's actually not a bad person to befriend.

"I will relay your words back to Looker then."

"Please do, and tell Flint I said hi and to pop by when he's free or else I will wipe the floor with him. Hippie."

The hypno teleported itself in once more, its pendulum swinging and a scowl on its face the moment it spotted me.

"See our guest out. Reunite her with her earlier companion."

The hypno looked at me with narrowed eyes.

 _"Hippie."_

The hypno snorted at Volkner's warning but its eyes began to glow a blue hue.

"See you, Vel. It was nice meeting you."

That was the last thing I heard from him before I got teleported away with a zap.

* * *

Looker didn't know whether to count our meeting with Volkner as a success or not.

On one hand, Volkner is adamant on not being a part of the International Police. On the other hand, he had offered to be an 'advisor' or sorts if we run into a problem and need some quality opinion. He had also offered to train me for these few days that we are here.

Looker told me to use this opportunity to spend more time with him to see if there's anything we can use to convince him. Maybe Volkner would also know a trainer or two that can help us in our cause that the respective regional Leagues had missed out.

As of now, I am in the West Forest with Volkner again, taking up on Volkner's offer to train me. We scheduled it to be in the late afternoon after he had finished with his part time job at Olivine's trainer school. How he became a teacher there without the whole world knowing about it or the locals realising his true identity is beyond me, but I never pried because I know he will appreciate the privacy.

Volkner was very interested in seeing Fuzzy fly with Magnet Rise after knowing that he can do that, saying that he had never met another individual that could make electric types do what Fuzzy did without him teaching them to do so. It was then that I realised that I am not the first to come up with such an idea, for Volkner had already made it a reality long before I did.

When I told Volkner that Wattson was the one who helped me teach Fuzzy achieve flight capabilities with Magnet Rise, Volkner said that he did share the theoretical workings of his version of Magnet Rise to Wattson many years ago when he met him before he became Sunyshore's Gym Leader. Wattson had probably taught me what Volkner shared with that jovial old man without me knowing about it.

Currently, our pachirisus are flying in the air and cheering at the top of the lungs as they zipped around the woods with Magnet Rise.

"First time I ever saw anyone manage to do something like this without my help." Volkner mused as he scratched his chin with a finger. "Not bad. Not bad at all. This alone makes you better than 95% of all the gym trainers that I have taught."

"Couldn't have done it on my own. It was Wattson who really helped me out in teaching Fuzzy learning how to fly with Magnet Rise."

"Ah, that old man. It's been a long while." Volkner nodded his head before looking at our pachirisus. "Your Fuzzy is still too slow though."

I looked at my flying Fuzzy, then turned back to face Volkner.

" _That_ is **_slow?_** "

"Pfft. You call that _fast?_ Scrat! Up the pace!"

Volkner's pachirisu let out a squeak before suddenly shooting off. It is actually moving at a speed faster than what Fuzzy can do when he absorbed a huge amount of natural lightning with the Nuclear Combo he did at the Battle Frontier. I can only gape in awe at just how _fast_ Volkner's Scrat is. No words can describe it.

It seems that Fuzzy finally has a competitor for the title of strongest pachirisu in existence.

"That is not the fastest Scrat can go." Volkner bragged. "Your Nuclear Combo is good and all, but that's because you are _lucky_ your Fuzzy has the Volt Absorb ability and has the correct skill set to pull off such a suicidal move. Most pachirisus don't have the Volt Absorb ability, like mine. For electric types, they usually excel in either attack power or speed. The lucky ones have both and maybe a little bit of defence mechanisms or tricks to fall back on, like how the eelektross species have the Levitate ability or how heliolisk have Electrify. Because most of them don't boast strong defences, their typing as a whole is very much like a glass cannon in battles. That is why you need to aim to finish the battle as soon as possible when using electric types. If you don't have power, rely on your speed. If you don't have speed, then rely on your power. That's how you train electric types. They are very specialised in what they do so you train them based on their specialisation."

Fuzzy is now trying his best to catch up to Scrat but it is obviously not working. Furthermore, he keeps crashing himself into a tree or two whenever he is trying to make the sharp turns Volkner's Scrat is doing. Scrat looked rather smug as it continued to show off what it can do that Fuzzy cannot.

"And that's another problem with super speed using Magnet Rise." Volkner gestured at my Fuzzy with a jerk of his head. "They start to experience tunnel vision, reaction time too slow to react to sudden changes in environment, unable to make sharp turns. That kind of thing. It's something that you have to let them slowly get used to through experience. No shortcuts there."

"You said electric types are usually either power or speed. So your pachirisu is just fast?"

"Mainly." Volkner nodded. "Their species are not born to be overly strong. Sure, you can train them in that direction, but it is easier to just train them to be fast instead of strong because you save a lot of time that way. Less wasted efforts. That doesn't mean Scrat is weak by any means in terms of power, but if you compare it to other species that is on a similar level? Like electivires? There's no competition. The electivire will always win in terms of power _and_ speed. That's the sad truth."

Volkner gestured for me to sit down with him on a nearby stone bench in the training ground we are at in the West Forest.

"Winning with your favourite pokemon is fine. In fact, I admire people who win their battles with pokemon who are not suited for battles because these people are the ones who truly understand the pokemon they are handling. I'm sure your Fuzzy can grow to be very powerful as well and you are already on the right path. You just need time. The thing is, you also need to accept the truth that his species will face challenges other species will never face, simply because it is not born strong. That is a fact. How you help him overcome these challenges and make him a super powerful pachirisu is on _you_ , his trainer. A true trainer wins with any pokemon he or she is saddled with and brings out the maximum potential of any pokemon on their team. You need to know what they are naturally good at in order to train them in the right direction."

"Playing pranks and being a general annoyance." I replied dryly. "That's Fuzzy's specialty."

"Then help him apply those specialties in battles." Volkner replied. "Being an annoyance can be a great battle strategy at times."

Fuzzy crash landed in front of us with a bunch of leaves sticking on his fur. He got up before shaking it off, squeaking happily the whole time despite now being caked in mud and dirt.

"There, there." Volkner said as he squatted down and let Fuzzy run along his outstretched arm and climb onto his shoulder. "You are still not used to your tunnel vision, yeah? No worries, Scrat was like you too. You are already pretty good at this."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. Did Volkner just-

"Strongest pachirisu in existence? Beat Scrat first before you try to claim that title." Volkner said as Fuzzy squeaked happily at him. Scrat floated down beside Volkner and Fuzzy, adding squeaks of his own as they participated in a three-way conversation.

"You can _understand_ Fuzzy?!" I exclaimed in surprise. The term 'strongest pachirisu in existence' is something that only our team would know, like an inside joke. There's no other way Volkner would know it other than somehow understanding what Fuzzy is saying since I did not tell Volkner about it.

"Huh? Yeah, kinda." Volkner shrugged. "I can understand electric types pretty well. I don't understand their language per say, but I can understand the gist of what they are trying to tell me. Pretty neat, huh?"

"I'm kinda jealous." I admitted. Imagine how cool it is to be able to understand what your pokemon is trying to tell you!

"Jas had the same reaction too." Volkner said with a smile.

"Still can't believe that you married a _Gym Leader."_

"We knew each other _before_ we became Gym Leaders." He retorted. "Why, jealous? You can find your own Gym Leader husbando if you want. Tate, was it? The only male Gym Leader in your region around your age? And didn't you come here with Steven? What's the age gap between the two of you? About five years? It's a pretty okay gap in my opinion and considering both your family status, it's a pretty good match. Imagine the merger of Devon Corps and the Vera Farm. You will basically have the entire Hoenn under your thumb."

"We are just good friends."

"Everybody was good friends before they fell in love." Volkner waved it off. "You asked me if there are any trainers that I know of to recommend joining the International Police? There is one. Her name's Kayla. She used to be my Head Gym Trainer and I pretty much taught her everything I know. She's now a teacher at Olivine's trainer school like me. I'm not too sure if she wants to go back to a life of crime busting but I can say that she was a great help back in the days. She definitely has the experience that you are looking for."

"I see." I mentally noted down the name Volkner had mentioned. "Thanks. Looker and I will look into it."

"Giovanni is up to something."

"Huh?" I replied, a little baffled at the sudden change in topic.

"I cannot tell you the details and officially, I'm not _supposed_ to know about this. I only pieced everything out because of our prior knowledge, but I guess it's safe to say that Giovanni is up to something. I arrived at this conclusion because Jas accidentally let slip a few details last night after coming back from a top secret meeting." Volkner explained. "Naturally, this is just between the two of us because of our shared secret and this is all I can help you for the moment. If the International Police wants to start doing their first job, try and see if you can herd Looker to start investigating Giovanni without it being too obvious. Times are changing, Vel. Ever since the Lilycove Invasion the world is starting to get chaotic. Maybe there really is some substance behind the prophecy."

"You are sure about the Giovanni part?" I asked, suddenly a little daunted. Unlike what is portrayed in the games, Team Rocket is _no joke_ in this world. They are really dangerous, easily the most dangerous and biggest criminal organisation in the world. Right now, there is only me and Looker in the interpol and none of us are ready to go up against _Giovanni_ of all people.

"Very damn sure." Volkner nodded. "There's no way I can clue Jas in about what I know about Giovanni and Team Rocket without giving away my secret, like how I know the Celadon Game Corner _has_ to be their hideout even if I have no proof, so I'm stuck as well. Hopefully you can make some headway as a member of the International Police. Already, I am having my gallade keep an eye on her all the time just in case. She's good, but definitely not on Giovanni's level. As an Electric Specialist I also have a natural disadvantage should I face him in battle. I still have this very bad feeling though. I cannot explain it but I _just_ know something is about to happen. Call it a sixth sense or some sort of instinct honed from years of battling bad guys in Sinnoh, I just know something is going to happen soon and that we might not like it. I don't like this."

"Then why don't you consider joining us part time?" I offered. "Until this Giovanni crisis is over? I know you are worried for your wife because she has a duty to stop Giovanni as a Gym Leader should Giovanni do something funny, so why not help out until we solve the Giovanni problem and then we can part ways from there?"

"That's…" Volkner let out a thoughtful hum as he looked into the sky. "A valid proposition. I will think about it and discuss it with Jas. I _did_ promise her that I will not go back to that kind of life, but seeing the way things are right now, we may not have a choice to choose to be simple bystanders. I will let you know our decision some other day. As much as possible, I don't want to step into the affairs of another region because I'm technically still a foreigner. Politics bullshit and all that. Besides, I'm _retired_."

"You don't need to keep reminding me about your retirement. I heard it the first time."

"I'm reminding you to remind Looker that I'm **_retired_**. R-E-T-I-R-E-D _retired_. I'm **_retired_**."

"I **_know_**."

I know that Volkner is simply messing with me when I see that grin on his face. Volkner pointed a finger at Fuzzy as he began to give me more tips on training him.

"I already told you the trick to help Fuzzy get faster with Magnet Rise and he's passable in that regard. In the meantime, get Fuzzy to work on his reaction time and adjusting on the tunnel vision. Once done, you can get him to increase the speed again and the cycle continues until he really cannot go any further."

Volkner gave another one of his usual yawns before continuing to speak.

"When you and Fuzzy finally reach that point, call me again. I will teach you and Fuzzy how to induce paralysis on your targets the _proper_ way. Properly controlled Thunder Waves can be very useful for immediate non-lethal takedowns on fellow human beings. Saves you a lot of time when you are out there arresting the bad guys. Or consult Elesa if you are able to. She's currently here in Johto as part of the Unova delegation, right? She's the foremost expert on Thunder Wave and anything related to inducing paralysis. Asking her is better than asking me."

"Thank you." I said sincerely. "For everything."

He snorted.

"You are lucky you are now a _kid_ born with a cute face, short stack. If it was anybody else I would not even give a hoot about them."

 _"Short stack?"_

"You are short."

 _This little-_ I am not short! I'm just petite!

 **"Am not!"**

"You are like, only 1.5 metres tall. That's pretty short."

"1.5 ** _3_** " I emphasised, fingers twitching in annoyance and trying not to strangle the ex Gym Leader in front of me. I am still a growing girl dammit! I _can_ grow taller!

"Short stack will forever be a short stack! Be a good _little girl_ and don't be a picky eater or you might just not grow any taller, okay?"

Any sense of restraint flew out of the window when he patted me on the head and continued to ridicule me about my _current_ height.

 **"VOLKNER!"**

* * *

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **18) Dusknoir**


	48. Chapter 48- Guardian and Tinkerer

As it turns out, I wasn't the first person who had the textbook idea. Sinnoh is already doing it, just that this fact isn't really well known outside of Sinnoh. Volkner told me that much.

"Hopefully this will be the _final_ draft." Agatha grumbled as we both looked through our textbook on ghosts together, the one that we both had a part in creating. "If all goes well and every region pools in their knowledge and resources, we can publish a textbook for dummies for newbies on _every single pokemon typing_ to be used in _all_ trainer schools."

"This is something revolutionary." I said excitedly. "I learnt many things just by reading the things you wrote about ghosts. I couldn't have tamed the ghosts in my shadows otherwise."

"You really should be a Ghost Specialist. What a shame." Agatha lamented. "Yet you are one of those pesky _Generalists_ that I hate so much. Tch. Wrong career choice, girl."

I knew better than to let Agatha's sharp tongue get to me. Our frequent correspondence told me enough to know that her heart is softer than tofu.

"You know, about that dusknoir I told you about…"

"Eh, just leave it alone. As long as it is not out to kill you in your sleep, that in itself is already a blessing. It's a _dusknoir_. What were you expecting it to do? Wagging its tail at you like a growlithe?"

"Uh, no, but-"

"Trust me on this." Agatha cut me off with another reassurance. "That dusknoir is probably one of those prideful ghosts. Ghosts who evolved on their own into their final forms without human help tend to be overly prideful and that leads to that kind of behaviour when they are captured. It will take a very long while for it to listen to anything you say. It's normal. Just tear it into pieces as many times as you want to get it to listen."

"Tear it into _pieces?_ "

"They are _ghosts_. They will live."

Wacky let out a cackling laugh from my shadow at those words. His laughter was responded by other gengars residing in Agatha's shadows. If this doesn't show just how sadistic ghosts can be, I don't know what else can.

"Any luck on recruiting Volkner?" Agatha asked, changing the topic.

"No. I did offer him the option of being a part-time advisor and he's considering it, but I doubt he will take up the offer. Even if he did, he won't stay for long. He made that very clear."

"Pity. He's really the best when it comes to crime management as far as I know. I heard enough to know that back in the days, Team Galactic would literally run away in fear whenever they caught wind of him coming their way. He single handedly made Sinnoh the safest region to travel and live in due to how good he was at lowering crime rates. That's how good he is."

If even _Agatha_ had such high praises for him, then there really must be things about my fellow reincarnated soul that I don't know of. Volkner must have been really brilliant and efficient in his job.

"He did recommend his previous Head Gym Trainer, Kayla, if we really need somebody on the team." I added after some thought. "I'm planning to give her a visit when I'm free since she also lives in Olivine now. Volkner said that he trained her himself."

"Is that so?" Agatha asked with obvious curiosity. "Volkner only had one official apprentice and that's Riley. Riley wasn't that strong before he became Gym Leader but now he's almost on the level of an Elite Four, worthy of being the Gym Leader of the last gym in Sinnoh's gym circuit. He's also a Generalist. If Volkner really did train Kayla himself, then she might as well be his second apprentice, albeit not officially. That girl must be something special for her to catch Volkner's eye. Try your best to convince her to join, Vel. It's better than nothing."

"Will do. Where's Looker, by the way?"

"In a meeting with Lance. In fact, all of the other members of the foreign delegation are in a meeting with him now. Why else do you think we actually had the time today to come together and look through the draft of this stupid textbook?"

"Uh, because you actually liked this textbook idea?"

"Cold day in hell before that happens, girl."

* * *

"Sorry, come again?"

"You heard me right the first time." Looker explained patiently. "Team Rocket is bringing the fight to Indigo and we are responding in kind. Lance has requested for help from the other regions and the Champions have been very generous in offering their aid."

"How generous are we talking about?" I asked, not knowing just _what_ kind of shitstorm is starting to brew while I was spending time with Agatha. Seriously, I just took my eyes off the interpol stuff for a single day and then something like this happened?

"All the members of the foreign delegation that you had met? They are now on orders from their respective Champions to help Lance and Indigo in any way they can." Looker informed me. "If it wasn't for the fact that it will take too long to send over any other reinforcements from the other regions across the sea, they other regions might just send additional firepower over to quell this mess."

Looker cleared his throat once before continuing.

"Needless to say, whatever I am telling you now is strictly confidential. Don't trust Giovanni, the Gym Leader of Viridian. He had been identified as the true leader of Team Rocket but we don't want to incite a mass panic should the information leak out right now. For now, we lay low. In the meantime, we need to hurry and get things done on our side as well."

"Set up the interpol group properly, I supposed?"

"That's right." Looker nodded in affirmation. "The interpol cannot function with just us two, we need more members that can fill in the roles that we need. I have enlisted the help of Grimsley and Siebold to help me try and recruit Shannon and Nova into the team, and I will be making the journey with them as well. The Indigo will also find a way to get Volkner to work with us, even if it's just temporarily. On your side, I will need your help to convince another two people to join us. With that, our group will be brought up to a total of seven people, large enough for the interpol to function as an elite task force."

So the Indigo suddenly had confirmation that Giovanni is indeed the true leader of Team Rocket? Was Volkner involved somehow, or was this a lucky coincidence? In any case, it proved that his hunch was right. I was wondering how I should go about trying to herd Looker in trying to investigate Giovanni but now it seems that my meddling isn't needed anymore. What a stroke of luck.

Looker handed me a dossier to look over.

"These two people that I will have you recruit used to work under me, but had retired from service eight years ago. I had tried asking them to lend me their aid some time back but the recruitment did not go that well. I would have left it as it is until I just found out that they happened to be here in Kanto right now, probably on a vacation, so I decided to try our luck once more to see if they can be persuaded to lend us their aid."

"And you chose me to try and recruit them again because…?"

"They have a fondness for children, and you are technically one no matter how mature and capable you are for your age." Looker explained. "Where I fail, you might succeed."

Looker tapped a finger on the dossier he placed in my hands.

"Whatever you need to know about those two are all in here. Take some time to read and digest the information. If there's anything you need to clarify or know, feel free to reach out to me. I am giving you free reign to try recruiting those two in any manner you deem to be most effective. Those two are experts in their respective fields, Vel, I cannot stress this enough. Having them with us will give our team a significant boost. Do your best to get them into our team."

"I will." I promised and suddenly, the file in my hands felt a lot heavier than it actually is. I guess this will be the first task that I am given to complete as a member of the interpol.

Recruit my fellow teammates.

* * *

Akamu Kahale and Marianne Kahale, a husband and wife duo that used to work as PWL agents based in the Alola region. Akamu is what the Alola League dubbed as a "Faller", people who were caught up in Ultra Wormholes and then spit out of it after who-knows-how-long. Usually, people who reemerge from Ultra Wormholes do not retain any of their past memories at all. Their identity is a blank slate, their backgrounds a mystery. That's not all. Due to the fact that they had been into Ultra Wormholes itself, Fallers constantly emit a mysterious energy that attracts these bloodthirsty Ultra Beasts to them. To make things worse, there is no known way to put down an Ultra Beast, the only way to defend yourself is to beat them back. As such, Fallers have to live a constant life on the run from those monsters and not many have lived past five years after coming out of an Ultra Wormhole. In fact, Akamu is the only known Faller left in the Alola region and he had fallen out of a Wormhole at around approximately eight years of age. The fact that he is still alive now at thirty years old spoke volumes of his ability.

Marianne Kahale, also known as Mary by many others. She is a member of the near extinct Kahale tribe of the Alola region and the only true blooded Kahale left. Her intellect and genius in the field of technology had garnered the attention of the PWL and Alola League ever since she was a young child and at seven years old, became the youngest agent to join the PWL in their long history. That was how terrifyingly smart she is even at that age. She had invented many things that had helped PWL and Alola and of which, her greatest contributions thus far is the invention of the Faller Cloaking Device and the perfection of the Foldable Space Technology that allows it to be easily commercialised for everyday use, making travelling so much easier for trainers worldwide. Theoretically, just the act of perfecting the Foldable Space Technology is enough to garner her international fame, but she is not that well-known outside of Alola. The only reason why her name isn't more well-known across the world for her contributions is because she chose not to claim credit for it, believing that the purpose of inventions is for the betterment of mankind, not for individual glory.

Back when they were still agents of the PWL and working under Looker, Akamu holds the codename of "Guardian" due to his ability to protect his entire squad no matter who his foes are and how impossible the situation is, even if they are Ultra Beasts. Like Looker mentioned, Akamu boasts a very unique skillset as a trainer. The missions that PWL agents went on are usually very dangerous in nature. Akamu's ability to ensure that an entire team of agents will return back alive for every single mission that Akamu is sent with is what made the PWL value Akamu's skills so highly. Akamu is known to not lose a single battle, and that was what earned him the moniker of Undefeated Fairy Guardian from his peers, partly due to the fact that he is a Fairy Specialist and partly due to his inability to lose. This is also why Looker wants him in the interpol, because the nature of work the interpol will be involved with can be very dangerous. We could use someone like Akamu to protect and pull us out of any pinch we might find ourselves in.

While Akamu was a combat agent, Mary was a support agent that focused on technical support. Her wide array of inventions was why her codename was "Tinkerer". She is not a trainer even if she is good enough to defend herself if need be. Usually, she is the one who would create gadgets that the PWL or Alola League specified for various needs. Most of the standard gear that Alola agents are still using today, she had a hand in creating it.

A combatant that cannot be defeated and a genius inventor of unparalleled intellect, they are definitely people we need in the interpol. No wonder Looker is so adamant on recruiting them.

However, the husband-wife duo had retired from service eight years ago and subsequently, fallen out with the PWL because of a tragedy that the two of them believed to be the fault of the PWL. The Faller Cloaking Device that was invented by Mary was the only thing that is protecting and hiding Akamu from the Ultra Beasts. It was entrusted into the care of the Alola branch of the PWL and had been suspected to be tampered with, resulting in a Guzzlord managing to seek out Akamu's location. The Guzzlord went on a rampage and the entire Kahale tribe was subsequently wiped out. The only survivors are Akamu, Mary, and someone by the name of Guzma. Guzma is not a Kahale by blood, but had been living with the Kahales for a period of time until that disaster struck. He is noted to be seen as Akamu's and Mary's adoptive little brother.

The aftermath of the Guzzlord attack was not only limited to the annihilation of the Kahale tribe. Mary was pregnant at the time and had miscarried, not being able to conceive again after the incident due to the injuries she suffered. Not only that, she was paralysed from the waist down for years until she was finally able to walk again recently, but her legs had never fully healed. Akamu was badly injured after the attack and it was a miracle that he actually came out alive at all. Guzma ran away for reasons unknown and ended up becoming the leader of Team Skull, a criminal group that is steadily growing bigger and have seemingly no other motivations than to undermine the authority of the Alola League. To me, this also meant that Guzma is very likely a canon character from the games because this is Team Skull we are talking about.

All of that happened because an unknown individual in the PWL had tampered with the Faller Cloaking Device. The culprit still hasn't been found even after so many years. It's no wonder that Akamu and Mary no longer had any wish to have any dealings with the PWL and rejected Looker's invitation to join the interpol, a group working under the PWL.

Coincidentally, the two of them are in Kanto right now, which makes paying them a visit a lot more convenient. All I have to do is to request a loan of a psychic type from Indigo which can teleport me to Kanto from Johto. Commuting through any other way would waste too much valuable time, time that we do not have at this moment considering the urgent Rocket crisis Looker just told me about. Volkner's hunch was spot on after all, Giovanni **_is_** planning something.

One look at their files and hearing what Looker had to say about the Kahale couple made it very clear to me that a prolonged conversation is not going to work in recruiting those two ex-agents. In that case, there is a need for me to grab their attention and let them in on certain things that they cannot possibly ignore. This is where Lady Luck smiled on me again.

Sometime earlier, an unknown informant within Team Rocket had managed to leak out an absurdly large amount of information about Team Rocket to Lance. Within it are many crucial pieces of information that can help uproot the criminal organisation permanently if we used it right. Who the informant is and how that person managed to deliver these information to Lance without being discovered is still a mystery, but all possible information that the Indigo can check on the truth of it has all been verified to be accurate as of now. There are no reasons to suspect this leak of information is any sort of secret ploy on Team Rocket's part, so we are acting on the assumption that everything that we now know thanks to this informant is the truth.

The informant had also managed to deliver the news that on Indigo National Day itself, Team Rocket will launch a region-wide attack on Johto in an attempt to take over the region in a single day. It sounds ludicrous at first, but a further look into the wealth of information would say otherwise. There are no words that can properly describe just how large Team Rocket is and how far their reach had extended within the Indigo. Giovanni has been revealed by the informant to be the secret leader behind Team Rocket, which makes Indigo very alarmed because one of their _Gym Leaders_ is the leader behind their biggest blight. Not only that, it is said that Team Rocket are creating an entirely new species of pokemon on their own that is said to be able to rival even Legendary pokemon. That pokemon is named Mewtwo, the second coming of Mew.

Despite my foreknowledge, I have no idea what to think about this issue the moment I knew about all these. Foreknowledge or not, there's no way I can stop a region-wide terrorist attack or stop a Gym Leader or God forbid, stop Mewtwo itself. I need to find people who can do what Looker and I cannot, that is the whole point behind the creation of the interpol. We find people who can do the impossible to help us save the world.

The turning point that I need to convince Mary and Akamu is when I found out that Mary's father used to be an inventor as well. He's been dead for a long time, but he was a Kantonian before he migrated to Alola and changed his name, living under a new identity. Remember Mewtwo? According to the wealth of information the informant had disclosed to Indigo which is now let known to the interpol, Team Rocket is able to control Mewtwo through strapping an armour-like machine on it. That machine is known as the M2 Bind and from what we can tell, is built to be near indestructible. Guess whose work was the M2 Bind based on?

Mary's father, Marcus Asier Vermont.

Now, I have no idea if Marcus used to work for Team Rocket or that his work was simply stolen by those terrorists and then twisted into something else entirely. What I do know is that every single action of Mewtwo can be controlled using the M2 Bind, which makes the M2 Bind nothing more than a tool to enslave a pokemon to do the bidding of another. If what I know about Mary's personality from Looker is indeed true, then there is no way she will sit idle and allow something like the M2 Bind to exist, much less a perversion of her father's own invention.

I now have something to grab their attention because this Team Rocket affair is now something personal to them. I do feel a little bad for manipulating them in this manner, but considering how dire the situation currently is, I don't really feel like I have a choice. Like Looker, I believe that we need those two in the interpol. At the very least, we need their help _right now._ If they can do something to at least help destroy the M2 Bind, that is already a huge load off our shoulders.

It took me an entire night to prepare the necessary documents that I know will garner Mary's and Akamu's attention. It's more of Mary than Akamu at this point due to how Mary's deceased father is now involved in this whole fiasco, but as long as I can convince one of them to join, it's very likely the other will too. They are husband and wife after all.

"You are about to leave?"

"Yes." I replied, already ready to start on my very first task as a member of the interpol. "I believe I already have what I need to convince Akamu and Mary. You said that they are now at Saffron, didn't you? I will start from there. Right now all I need is a psychic type that can teleport me to Kanto from here."

"I will get you one." Looker agreed before reminding me once more.

"Be careful out there, Vel. The Indigo League and us are doing all we can to not alert Team Rocket what we now know of their plans, but one can never be too careful. Right now, to topple Team Rocket in one move, secrecy is of the utmost priority. If you have reasons to believe that Team Rocket is onto you somehow, get out of there immediately."

"I will."

* * *

When I told Looker that I need a psychic type for transportation purposes, I wasn't expecting him to get an _Elite Four_ to accompany me.

"And we are here."

Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four said out loud the moment we reached the outskirts of Saffron City in Kanto, landing in a deserted clearing within a semi-forested area just outside the city. According to Lucian, he had been to Kanto before a few times and his pokemon are indeed strong enough to teleport to Saffron all the way from Olivine in just a few jumps. That is the power of an Elite Four for you. Not many trainers in this world can bring you from Olivine to Saffron within a minute.

"Thank you for accompanying me." I thanked Lucian, who simply waved it off with a pleasant smile on his face. He is dressed very casually today, just a simple shirt and jeans. He does not have his usual book with him nor is he wearing his glasses. Truth to be told, without his signature red formal wear and glasses, I would not have recognised him to be a member of Sinnoh's Elite Four as well. Funny how a simple change in attire can allow a famous figure like him to hide in plain sight.

"Don't think too much of it, Vel. I had nothing to do back there anyway. At least, not right now." Lucian said before looking around. "Hmm, Saffron seems to have changed a little from what I can remember. Do you need my help in locating Akamu and Mary?"

"No, it's fine. I can take over from here." I declined Lucian's help politely. "There's something that I have been wanting to try out after learning it from Agatha and this is a good time to put what I learnt into practice."

"You are really something to have caught Agatha's eye." Lucian let out a brief laugh as his alakazam stood beside him. "I will be strolling around the city's bookstores in the meanwhile. Give me a call once you are done, okay?"

With a wave of his hand, Lucian disappeared from view with his alakazam.

"Alright, you guys can come out now."

My shadows swirled upon my words and a multitude of ghosts started to emerge one after the other from the inky blackness. I held up a printed picture of the faces of both Akamu and Mary for them to see.

"See these two people? I need you guys to find them for me and guide them here. Whatever you do, don't hurt them or cause any inconveniences for others, okay? Just guide them to me over here."

The ghosts all crowded in front of the picture curiously upon my words to take a good look at the people that I need their help in finding. Dolly was the first to respond and with a ghostly cackle before diving into the shadows and then sped towards the city. Wacky followed soon after and the rest of the ghosts all dispersed and started to sneak into the city individually through the shadows.

Helping Looker in finding and discussing which candidates to recruit for the interpol made me realise one thing, that if I want to continue to stay with the interpol, I need to be unique. I need to have a certain type of skill or ability that no one else has that is also useful to the interpol. My meeting with Volkner had only cemented this belief. The interpol will be made up of individuals that are all skilled in their own unique way, each of them possibly as valuable as Volkner in terms of worth. If I want to be a part of this elite group, I cannot be another random trainer that can be easily plucked off the street.

I need to have a unique set of skills that can help the interpol. I need to be able to pull my own weight. I need to prove my worth that I am not just any other ordinary trainer and that I am irreplaceable.

There's nothing extraordinary about me other than my strange affinity for ghosts. Volkner had told me that his affinity for electric types was what convinced him that he will do better as an Electric Specialist than in trying to be a Generalist. I have no idea if I will walk the same path that he took, but I do know that it is a waste to not take full advantage of my gift to help me in my endeavours. Even Agatha said so. Ghosts are rare, and Ghost Specialists are even rarer, even more so when you are looking for a skilled Ghost Specialist.

That is the one thing I can offer to the interpol which can make me a valuable member. Ghosts are extremely useful when you need to do sneaky things. They can disappear into shadows, phase through walls, appear and disappear into thin air, and generally confuse the heck out of their victims. I now have a small army of ghosts and while it was not of my own volition for that to happen, the fact is that such an advantage is now mine to use.

But I need to learn how to use this gift of mine to its fullest effect, which was why I spent time with Agatha back at Olivine and asked her if she could personally teach me more about Ghost types.

What I learnt when helping Agatha with writing the textbook was the theoretical knowledge on what ghosts are. What I learnt when spending those few hours with her back at Olivine was how to manage the trainer-pokemon relationship with ghost types. Ghost types cannot be contained, they are unrestrained and chaotic. The only thing they seek is personal enjoyment and excitement and they would not care if it is derived at the expense of others. They can be extremely violent once their bloodlust has been unleashed but most of the time, they are simply mischievous. They disregard any sense of balance and order, seeking mayhem over peace, which is why most of them either love to prank others or seek battles like a bloodthirsty warmonger. It's all for the sake of fulfilling their own personal enjoyment or trying to feel that adrenaline rush.

Due to the traits of ghost types as listed above, there's no way anyone could control ghosts. They don't listen to anyone word for word and hate the idea of being controlled. To make ghosts listen to you, you have to make them like you enough to want to listen to you and also capable enough of handling them at their worst.

To be a good ghost type trainer is to learn how to properly manage your relationship with them and how to manage and prevent their bloodlust from coming out when you don't want it to come out. It's all about building rapport with Ghost types. There's no controlling ghost types once they are hellbent on destruction. They are chaotic.

Like Agatha had told me when we first met at Mt Pyre, nobody can claim to control ghost types, including her. The only way to live with them is to guide them towards a common goal and make them view and treat you as one of them. Ghosts love to create chaos, it's in their nature. The only thing we can do as trainers to keep them in line is to allow them to do things that are chaotic good in nature and vent their energy on things that cause little to no disturbances to other humans and pokemon. Ghosts are nice companions to have once you are able to manage their chaotic side properly. Like how I allow Dolly and Wacky to prank others as long as nobody is hurt in the process and the consequences are not irreversible, they obey my orders in exchange for living alongside me and me training them to be stronger. They get to spend their energy on things that they enjoy while I have their companionship and power on my side.

Human-pokemon relationships are always initially built on a basis of trust and equivalent exchange, that is what I learnt from helping Agatha ever since I started on the textbook idea. This is especially so when it comes to Ghost types. The only other way to fully control them is through forceful suppression but that can easily backfire because ghosts are patient creatures when planning their revenge, a trait that probably comes from their immortality. All it takes is one moment of carelessness on the trainer's part for the ghost to vengefully stab him in the back before going on their merry way.

It helps that most of the wild ghosts that have chosen to reside in my shadows and follow me are younger and weaker ghosts. It is because of this that they are more accepting of following orders in the hierarchy of things with Dolly and Wacky as their leaders. By following me, they are able to safely explore the world with me through the safety of my shadows, satisfying their curiosity and being able to spend their energy on things that interest them. By observing how I train Dolly and Wacky, they are also given the chance to grow stronger simply by following me.

In return, I am offered with their companionship and constantly protected by an army of ghosts. It's true that these ghosts are mostly weak since most of them are so young, having just travelled here from another plane of existence, but they will slowly grow stronger in time. It will not be a far stretch to say that in a few years, I would have amassed a powerful army of fully evolved ghost types even if they do not officially belong to me.

Looking from this angle, I can see where Agatha is coming from when she said that it is a waste for me to not be a Ghost Specialist. However, my dream is not to be the very best that no one ever was. All I want is to explore the world. Generalist, Specialist, none of it really matters to me. Competing in a Pokemon League Tournament just once is enough for me. I just want to travel the world alongside pokemon who shares the same dream as I do, that's all. If I have to save the world in order to continue travelling, then so be it.

I just want to travel the world. Saving the world is really just a side quest that I have no choice but to take up if I want to see my dreams come true.

* * *

It took about half an hour before the ghosts started to return to me one after the other. Through Rena, I have confirmation after asking a misdreavus that the ghosts have found the two people I needed to find and are working together to guide them here.

I'm simply impressed that they managed to find the people I asked them to help find within half an hour. Saffron City is the capital and heart of Kanto, the most populated city of the region. It is _huge_. How did my ghosts even manage to spot two people among the millions who live there?

 _'They are here.'_

Rena's voice speaking into my mind got me to look up, just in time to see Wacky running in with a handbag that is _definitely **not** mine_.

My ghosts did not just commit daylight robbery, did they?

Dolly reappeared by my side, cackling loudly as she flew circles around me. A few more ghost types followed suit as they all high-fived each other before disappearing back into my shadows.

 _Oh for the love of-_ What was I expecting? Of **_course_** they committed daylight robbery. Great, let's hope that I will not be the first person that the interpol is going to arrest.

Soon, two people arrived at the clearing we are at together with their pokemon. The two people are a large muscled man with dark skin and a chin-strap beard and a woman with long dark blue hair and fair skin. I recognised them immediately, they are the people that I am supposed to find and recruit.

"Sorry for inviting the both of you in this manner." I quickly bowed in apology and gave a silent gesture to Wacky to return the handbag he had definitely snatched from Mary. "But given the nature of the topic we are about to discuss, this is necessary. I hope you understand."

"And you are…?" Mary inquired with a look of curiosity. At least she is not angry at the prank my ghosts pulled on her. A good start all things considered.

"My name is Velda Vera. I am from the interpol and am now working under Looker." I quickly introduced myself with a smile. "I'm here under Looker's orders to enlist both your help. He had very high praises for both of you."

Akamu's facial expression visibly changed the moment he heard Looker's name.

"We had told Looker that we are _not_ interested." Akamu nearly growled out. Guess the last meeting Looker had with them did not end on a very positive note.

"I figured that much." I nodded in understanding before taking out the dossier that I had painstakingly prepared before coming here. "Looker told me that the two of you gave him five minutes to explain himself when he first sought you out. I will ask the same from the both of you too. Five minutes, that's all I ask. All I need is your opinion on what is printed right here."

The last part of my sentence was directed at Mary. For an inventor of her calibre, I am sure she can recognise her father's work right away. This is what will make things between them and Team Rocket personal and hopefully, be enough to convince her to join our cause to stop Team Rocket. If Mary joins, then I have no doubt Akamu will too.

The only thing I don't like is that doing such a low move leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Mary took the dossier from my hands and began to look through it. I can see that the documents in it caught her attention immediately, so I remained silent and gave her all the time she needed to understand what I had just shown her. Akamu stood by her side, no doubt thinking about the same thing as well even if it's clear he doesn't understand a single thing on the dossier.

When Mary's face started to scrunch up and contort in an obvious expression of anger, I knew that I now have her full attention. Furthermore, it's been way past five minutes. She is definitely going to ask questions, something which I want her to do.

"Where did you get this from?"

Mary finally broke the silence after a long while. I simply chose to ignore her question and asked her a question instead.

"What are your thoughts on it?"

" _Where_ did you get **_this_** from?" Mary demanded once again as she held up the dossier with a hand, a slight hint of fury underlying her voice. Good, she is angry, which means that she is now invested and interested to hear what is really going on.

"Only very recently. I cannot tell you anything else because it's confidential and it concerns the secrets regarding the Indigo League and the PWL. That will change, however, if the both of you are willing to lend us your aid, just this one time, to tide over the coming crisis."

I know Akamu and Mary are people who can be trusted with highly confidential secrets from what Looker told me about them, but I am going to purposefully play the confidential card as an excuse to not tell them more than what I told them through the dossier. I have to goad them to chase after me for answers, waiting for them to take the bait. This is the only way left that I can think of for them to agree to join the interpol, even if it is just temporarily. The upcoming Team Rocket problem is too big a threat and we really need all the people that we can find right now.

I have to make this personal for the both of them, and the invention created by Mary's father, now having ties to Team Rocket, is the missing piece of the puzzle that I need to get these two to chase after me for answers.

Mary is understandably not happy about my response.

"If you are asking for our help to complete this **_monstrosity-_** "

"We need your help to _destroy_ it." I quickly corrected Mary before she got the wrong impression. "We are asking for your help not because we want to build something like that, but because we need to destroy it."

" _Explain_."

"The Indigo and the PWL have reasons to believe that Team Rocket is creating their own legendary pokemon through the power of science."

The next piece of news I dropped on them provoked a visible reaction out of them, that much I can tell. I waited for a few seconds before continuing to speak.

"As to how we got wind of this information, I'm afraid even Looker and Lance have not much of a clue." I admitted. "From what I was told, the information just appeared out of nowhere. The best guess we have is that someone within the upper echelons of Team Rocket's ranks are double crossing them."

"This could very well be a trap. An elaborate trap to wipe out Indigo's elites in one fell swoop because nobody can ignore the threat that a rogue legendary pokemon will pose."

Akamu does have a point. From what Looker told me, the Indigo had thought that was the case until they managed to verify most of the information that was disclosed to them. It was then that Lance realised that this is not a joke. Team Rocket is really planning to launch a full blown attack on Johto during National Day.

This is no longer something that even the PWL can ignore. Hence, why every region is willing to lend Indigo their best trainers to help resolve this crisis.

"It could be, but this mysterious informant had given us much other information other than what is contained in this dossier as well." I quickly explained without giving too much away. "As far as we can double check, they are all true. Taking a logical and rational approach, we have little grounds to believe that the blueprint of the machine we are seeing here, the M2 Bind, is false."

"M2 Bind?"

"A machine created specifically to suppress and control a very specific psychic type pokemon to do each and every of the handler's command." Mary interrupted the conversation between me and Akamu and gave the watered down version of what the M2 Bind really is, already knowing its true nature through the dossier I gave her earlier. "This invention is an _abomination_ , an insult to us inventors. Inventions are supposed to help people and pokemon, not… _not_ do something like **_this_**."

"In any case, Team Rocket cannot be allowed to have a legendary pokemon in their possession if we want Indigo to remain standing. If something were to happen to Indigo, it would affect the PWL and subsequently the world as well." I continue to explain my rationale for being here today as calmly as possible. "To prevent that from happening, finding a way to release the legendary pokemon from Team Rocket's grasp is now a priority. However, as you can see, this machine is extremely complex and is designed to be near indestructible. We need to gather the best people we can find and trust to take on this job of destroying it. Looker needs the both of you, but he mentioned that you two probably won't want to see him again after the last meeting you had, so he sent me in his stead."

Mary did not form a reply and neither did Akamu. Mary is visibly shaking in anger, her head facing down and her bangs covering her eyes. I saw Akamu slowly reaching out to hold onto Mary's hand.

"Give us some time to think through this." Mary spoke up after a short while. "We will give you our answer by tomorrow."

That is more than I could ask for, which means that it is now time for me to go.

"Looker said that the both of you know how to contact him. We will be waiting for your response." I conceded to their request and forced a smile on my face. "I look forward to working with the both of you, Mary, Akamu. I will take my leave now, thank you for hearing me out."

Taking the cue, the ghosts in my shadows began to use their powers as my shadow started to grow darker before spiralling upwards and engulfing me whole. Shadow Sneak is a useful mode of transport if short distance travels is all that you are aiming for.

Akamu and Mary may not have given their answer yet, but if they are anything like Looker described, I believe that I will see them very soon. After all, in Looker's words, they were once people with noble intentions who tried to help the world in their own way. The world needs people like them to help avert the coming crisis.

My role is to simply gather such people together to help save the world.

* * *

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **18) Dusknoir**


	49. Chapter 49- Unbelievable Gathering

"Volkner's in."

"You are kidding."

"No, I'm not." Looker shook his head at my reply. "Volkner's helping, at least for now."

"How?" I asked, curious that somebody actually managed to convince _Volkner_ to help. Not just any kind of help, but actually recruiting Volkner to help out in any way he can.

Just who was the miracle worker that did what everybody else couldn't?

"Champion Lance personally paid Volkner a visit." Looker said with a shrug. "Hard to say no when a Champion made a personal visit to you and asked for your help. I personally feel that the fact that Volkner's wife is a Gym Leader has helped a lot too. Jasmine will be involved in this coming fight in one way or another. Volkner probably wanted to help his wife in any way he can after hearing what Champion Lance had to say."

"Doesn't feel like it." I replied with a frown. "Volkner is very confident in Jasmine's capabilities, just that reason alone doesn't feel like it suffices to convince him to come out into the spotlight again. Then again, you may be right. There's a lot that we still don't know about Volkner and how he is as a person."

"On my end, I had also managed to recruit the two members we discussed that day with help from Grimsley and Siebold. Shannon Juniper and Nova Labelle, a Pokemon Researcher and a Historian. They should be able to get along with us nicely. Now that Akamu and Mary had agreed to lend us their aid as well, our interpol team has more or less taken shape. Just expect friction between members to occur because this is the first time we are officially working with each other, especially with a solo player like Volkner around. We may have to play the role of mediator quite frequently until we really become a real team."

"You sound confident that Volkner, Akamu, and Mary will stay on even after this Rocket business is over." I commented with slight curiosity.

"The three of them are noble people at heart, Vel." Looker patiently explained as we waited in our lodgings, specially prepared by the Indigo League to house us regional representatives during our stay here. "Their reluctance to participate is due to the bad experiences they had with working with authorities. Once upon a time, like you and I now, they were once people that shared the same burning passion to help others without asking for anything in return. I believe that same spark is still there within the three of them, we just have to reignite it. This Rocket problem may be a crisis, but it is also an opportunity for us to reignite that spark."

"So, our job now is to make sure that this team stays as a team? From now until the Rocket problem is over?"

"And _preferably_ this team will not disband after the Rocket problem is over." Looker added as he made himself a cup of coffee. "Coffee?"

"It's fine. Thank you." I politely declined the offer before continuing our discussion. "If we want them to stay together, we need them to have opportunities to work with each other frequently. How are we going about doing this?"

"Volkner and Akamu can work together." Looker proposed as he poured boiling hot water into a porcelain mug, the aroma of coffee wafting in the air. "Akamu is no stranger to battles and his style of battling can complement almost anyone. He's used to supporting others from the backlines. Volkner's experience in taking down criminal groups and Akamu's experience in participating in countless life-and-death battles will mean that they have a lot of common topics to talk about. Akamu will definitely be a huge help to whatever Lance had Volkner help him do, that is for sure."

"And the rest?"

"Mary is an inventor, Shannon is a researcher. The both of them will definitely be part of the team that is tasked to find a way to destroy the M2 Bind. Mary might not want to stay on after this is all over, but Shannon is different. She has a vested interest to stay on because the interpol can provide her the resources to conduct whatever studies she wants to do. Same goes for Nova. All we have to do is to let the three ladies mingle with each other and hope that they will form a strong bond. From there onwards, there's really nothing else we can really do."

"Actually, what is Nova going to do? Aside from digging out the truth about legends and myths?"

"To be able to distinguish truth from lies is a very valuable and rare skill to possess, Vel, do not underestimate Nova's capabilities. She will be of great help in helping us to sort through and picking out relevant information that we need. I wanted to explain once everybody is here, but I guess I can let you know about it now." Looker said with a thoughtful hum as he passed to me a tablet. "Before Team Rocket became what it is today, it was actually known as an organisation called SKIP. That was more than twenty years ago. SKIP is an acronym for Separation of Kanto from Indigo through Peace. Obviously, the current state of Indigo and SKIP's disappearance meant that it failed. SKIP was exterminated by the orders of the Indigo President, Kain Briggs, more than twenty years ago."

"Why would-"

"We are not here to ask questions." Looker cut me off before I could continue. "As members of the interpol, we help to solve the problems plaguing each region, but we are not to interfere in their inner workings. We don't have the authority to. It's a fine line to tread, Vel. Sometimes, the only thing we can do is to turn a blind eye while doing our jobs."

Looker patted my head with a hand before continuing.

"You are still young. For now, the lesser you know about certain things, the safer you will be. Leave the more sensitive and dangerous matters to us adults. All you need to know now was that Giovanni was one of the leaders of SKIP. He was one of the more vocal supporters of Kanto's separation from Indigo. What we speculated is that the cruel extermination of SKIP had twisted him to believe that a peaceful separation was not a viable option, so he turned to the only available path left, freedom through bloodshed."

"You are saying he created what is now the largest and most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world, all just to fight for Kanto's independence?" I clarified.

"That's basically it." Looker confirmed with a nod of his head. "SKIP was a peaceful organisation, but because their nature of work and their ideals directly went against everything Indigo stands for, President Kain Briggs could not tolerate their existence and ordered their extermination. While I believe that extermination is too heavy-handed an approach, it is not my place to comment on how Indigo should run things. At most, we could only give suggestions because we are supposed to be a neutral party."

"If SKIP was indeed _exterminated_ , like people were _killed_ and lives were _lost_ , I can actually understand why Giovanni turned out this way." I said out loud in thought. "Imagine it. All you wanted was a peaceful separation, and what ended up was the death of everyone and everything you held dear. It would break anyone."

"Not _everyone_ ended up dead, if you were wondering." Looker spoke slowly, as if trying to think of a way to formulate a proper response. "Some of the former leaders of SKIP are still around because their identities were never found out by Kain or Indigo. The only reason we now know so much about SKIP is because after knowing the truth behind Team Rocket, that it is a twisted continuation of their previous goals, these people willingly stepped out once more in order to give us their aid and end the mess they started. It's partly why we managed to dig out as much information as we did, especially about the existence of Mewtwo and what the M2 Bind really is. You know some of them."

"And they are…?"

"Agatha was one." Looker dropped the literal bomb the moment I asked. "The previous Indigo Champion, Professor Samuel Oak, was another. Bill, Fuji, Blaine. All of them worked with Giovanni and were a part of SKIP many years ago. They avoided detection and survived, but they were some of the lucky few. Many of their fellow SKIP members weren't so lucky."

 _"Agatha?"_ I gasped in shock, not knowing that the cranky old lady who taught me almost everything I knew about ghosts had such a past. "Even her?"

"Even her." Looker nodded solemnly. "Now you know why Lance asked us that everything that we do now, we cannot let Kain or Giovanni know. Given the convoluted history behind the formation of Team Rocket and Kain's past decisions, there is no doubt that Giovanni holds a very deep grudge against Kain and Indigo. Giovanni will rinse Indigo in blood the first chance he gets, and that chance has presented itself on the coming National Day because right now, Giovanni has finally amassed everything he needs to start a war campaign. If I were Giovanni, I would make a big show out of it because it is Indigo National Day, the day where Indigo was first founded. Everyone around the world will be watching the celebrations live on TV. It would be irony at its finest if Indigo were to fall on its founding day. It's something Giovanni will definitely do out of spite."

"And Lance doesn't trust Kain enough to not botch up everything that we are trying to prevent, I take it?" I took a wild guess based on what I knew about the prior relationship between Wallace and President Lucas. The fact that the Regional Champion and Regional President are _supposed_ to work together doesn't mean that they _will_ work together. I had already seen and experienced that firsthand. I don't see why that will be any different in another region.

"Likewise, Kain never trusted Lance." Looker replied with a tired sigh. "However, from what I could gather from the former members of SKIP, Kain himself has severe trust issues. He never worked with Samuel and consistently meddled with his work. At that moment, Samuel knew that he and Kain can never work together as a team to solve Indigo's problems together. It was what pushed Samuel to join SKIP even when he was the Champion back then, because Samuel knew that _something_ had to be done about Kanto and her state of poverty. If Kain is not willing to cooperate, then he could only do it with help from SKIP. That was his rationale back then."

"I don't think I get the picture."

"Right, you were too young to know." Looker said with a look of realisation before continuing to explain SKIP's side of the story. "Right before SKIP was exterminated, Kanto was experiencing a severe economic depression at that time. It was really bad. Kantonians were getting violent because their voices were not heard. As Champion, Samuel wanted to do something about it but Kain would not work with him, always insisting on doing things his way. As time will now tell, Kain's methods did not bore any actual fruit and SKIP had actually succeeded in what he failed to do. Not only that, SKIP's efforts were an _immense success_. SKIP was a secret organisation that worked behind the shadows. Kantonians do not know of their existence at all, much less the extent in which they contributed to the region. Now, imagine. What if the Kantonians actually knew what SKIP really did for them? The Indigo Government failed, an organisation solely made up of Kantonians succeeded. What will happen when this becomes public knowledge to Kantonians?"

"They…" My mind worked as fast as it could as I tried to visualise the situation Looker just described to me. "They will support SKIP over Indigo. That means… _oh_."

"I see you got it." Looker said with a satisfied smile. "If Kantonians knew that Indigo was really that inept in solving their issues, what need is there for Kanto to remain as part of the Indigo? If Kantonians themselves are more than capable of managing their own region, why will they need the Indigo? As Indigo President, Kain Briggs will not allow such a separation to happen. It goes against everything the Indigo stands for. That was what drove him to order the extermination of SKIP. At least, that was what Samuel and Blaine told me."

"Politics are really dirty." I blurted out the first thing that popped up in my mind. Suddenly, I'm extremely glad that I was born in Hoenn and not anywhere else.

"Every region has their own dirty linen that they do not want others to see. The only reason why we are involved in this affair is because Indigo clearly needs the help. If Indigo falls, so will the PWL, because Indigo is the largest member nation. The currency that all seven regions use, they are all the same and standardised, Pokedollars. Where did Pokedollars first originated from? _Indigo_. We are using _Indigo's_ currency to maintain our world's economy. If Indigo falls, the _world_ will fall. As such, Indigo _cannot_ fall. This is why the other Champions offered their help so readily when Lance asked that from them. This is why the regions' representatives are now all involved in this and are lending Lance their aid on orders from their respective Champions. We all know the repercussions that will happen should Indigo fall."

"I have to admit, I never thought that far." I replied, a little ashamed that I never managed to see things as far as Looker did. All the consequences, all the ripples that every single action might have on a region and on the world, I never saw how the Rocket crisis would affect the world as it is. I simply thought that it was an Indigo issue and that was that.

"I don't expect you to, not with your current experience and age. Relax, you have already done very well, all that is left is to help you gain more experience as a member of the interpol. This is why I am here as your mentor and superior." Looker said with an encouraging smile. "With that, do you now see the importance of our very first task? This is our first mission as the interpol, to solve this Rocket crisis so that Indigo can remain standing with the least amount of damage done to it."

Looker then took a look at his watch.

"They should be here soon. Anytime now."

True to Looker's words, two very familiar people entered the room we are at seconds later.

"Akamu, Mary."

"Looker. Velda." Mary greeted us on behalf of the two of them. The difference between how she greeted Looker and me was not lost on us. The couple was at least cordial enough when greeting me but the same cannot be said for Looker. For some reason, Mary and Akamu do not seem to like seeing Looker at all.

"You've gathered the people you needed?" Akamu cut to the chase as he and his wife took a seat in the room we are at. Again, the furthest seat away from Looker. Looker was right, it will really be our job to play the role as mediators and ensure that this interpol team that we set up can function as an actual team.

"As much as I can within these two days." Looker replied as he took out a small device which I recognise to be a communication jammer. Looker may always be paranoid, but he always does things with a reason. If he deems this place, the place where the Indigo League allowed us to stay during our duration here, has a potential chance for us to be eavesdropped upon, then there is really such a possibility.

Akamu and Mary had obviously picked that up too from the subtle changes to their facial expressions.

"The team could be better, but this will have to do for now. Once Shannon and Nova arrive, then we can start things proper by meeting our final member at his place." Looker carried on the conversation, acting like nothing just happened.

Our conversation was interrupted when two more people entered the room. A bespectacled woman with brown hair that ends at her neck, and a woman with dark red hair that cascades down her shoulders.

"U-Um, is this- oh, Looker! So we are in the right place after all!"

"I told you that there was no way we could get lost with me around."

"But Nova, this place is so confusing!"

"Guys, meet Shannon Juniper and Nova Labelle." Looker immediately introduced the two ladies to everyone present and we all stood up to greet them. "Shannon, Nova, these are the people that you will be working with for the foreseeable future. From right to left, Akamu Kahale, Marianne Kahale, Velda Vera. There's one more person who we will need to meet up with. Together, we will be the very first team that will make up the interpol. Vel, if you will."

Knowing what Looker wants me to do, I scrolled through my xtransceiver to find that contact number. I clicked the call button the moment I found the contact number of the 'Fourth Hokage' saved in it. A few seconds later, the Hokage wannabe picked up the call.

 _"Short stack."_

"It's _Velda_." I corrected him as I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose to calm my rising blood pressure. Damn Volkner and his annoying shenanigans. I'm **_not_** short! I'm just petite! I'm still a growing girl! I _can_ grow **_taller!_**

 _"Yeah, yeah, say what you want. Hang on, Myst should be on his way."_

"Myst?"

 _"My gallade. Can't miss him."_

On cue, a gallade appeared right in the middle of us without prior indication of its arrival and in the next second, our surroundings suddenly changed when we found ourselves in the West Forest once more, just right in front of Volkner's house.

"AHH! WHERE ARE WE?! DID WE JUST GOT OURSELVES KIDNAPPED?! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT WHEN I DROPPED MY MUG THIS MORNING! I WOKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED TODAY! WHERE ARE WE EVEN?!"

"Shannon, _calm down!_ " Nova had to shake Shannon out of her screaming, looking as if she had done it many times before with how natural she is doing it.

"Yes, please do calm down." Looker said with a tired sigh. "We are still at Olivine. This is Olivine's West Forest."

"Oh, that mysterious piece of private land that is said to be the home of many wild and exotic pokemon in the Johto region?" Shannon's behaviour immediately took a complete turn as she got visibly excited, her previous fear forgotten. "I had heard from Professor Elm that there are stantlers here too! _Stantlers!_ Do you know where I can find-"

A brief chuckle broke out from Mary, who had a hand over her mouth but still failed to contain her laughter at the sight of Shannon's behaviour. Even Akamu has an amused smile on his face. The sound of Mary's laughter immediately broke Shannon out of her ramblings and she rubbed the back of her head in a sheepish manner.

"S-Sorry! It's just that… I… Uh…"

"You can ask Volkner for permission to tour this place all you like after we are done with our work here. This place belongs to him after all." Looker said with a shrug before walking up to the door to knock on it. "But for now, we have other pressing matters to deal with."

"Wait, this place belongs to _Volkner?!_ Like, the _entire_ place?!"

Shannon's question went unanswered as the door swung open by itself after Looker had knocked on it. We entered after Looker and I saw the same living room where Volkner and I had talked with each other that fateful night. He is still there sitting on the sofa, but now the entire area had been converted into his workspace. The wall which the sofa was facing now has many large screens mounted on it, each of them showing diagrams, charts, graphs, of different things that made no sense to me.

"Volkner. It's nice to finally meet you."

"I wish that I can say the same, but your appearance is never good news to me." Volkner grumbled as he stood up and shook hands with Looker a little unwillingly. He then turned to look at me and that annoying smirk made its appearance on his face once more.

"Grown any _taller_ since we last met, short stack?"

"Call me that _one more time_ -"

"So you guys are the people Looker and short stack gathered?" Volkner ignored me as his attention is now directed to the new members of the interpol. "Sup, name's Volkner Tide. If you were wondering, yes, the previous Gym Leader of Sunyshore, that's me."

Volkner then took a brief pause as though he was contemplating something before speaking up again.

"I'm going to warn you guys first. I'm a certified selfish asshole and troll. You guys **_will_** get mad at me sooner or later for how I go about doing things but I'm not going to care about that. I'm not here to make friends and neither are you guys. We are just here to help clean up Indigo's mess and then we will go our separate ways. Other than that? It's nice to see y'all."

All of us stared at Volkner in silence, not knowing how to respond to that weird introduction he gave.

"Selfish asshole? Aren't you a _Gym Leader?_ " Nova voiced out loud, disbelief clear in her voice.

"So?" Volkner asked in return. "Because I'm a Gym Leader I must act like a selfless saint? Who decided that in the first place anyway? Get real, red, Gym Leaders are humans too. We cannot do everything that is asked of us, we have our limits. There will come a day where we cannot give anymore. Being a selfish asshole is the only way I know how to protect myself from burning out, deal with it."

Volkner then turned to face Looker.

"Do you have what I need?"

Looker simply took out a hard drive from his pocket, and along with it items that I know very well.

A Key Stone and _two_ Mega Stones. _Two_.

"This is what Lance entrusted me to pass to you."

"Good. With this, I can finally form a tangible plan. Thanks for bringing these here."

Volkner then gestured to the numerous chairs that he obviously set up in preparation for our arrival.

"Alright, take a seat, make yourselves comfortable. We really don't have time on our side. We need to get this mission impossible done pronto."

The same gallade reappeared into the room, carrying a tray of drinks and promptly handed it out to us.

"W-Wow, this is the first time I saw a gallade this powerful…"

"Focus, four-eyes." Volkner waved a hand in front of Shannon's face to get her attention back on the issue at hand. "You can marvel at Myst all you want later. We have to deal with the Rocket problem now, you get me?"

"R-Right! S-Sorry!"

"The most urgent issue at hand to me, is the M2 Bind." Volkner got the ball rolling without delay the moment we were seated and with a few taps of the buttons on a wireless keyboard he placed on his lap, brought up an annotated blueprint of the M2 Bind on the large screen for all of us to see.

"The M2 Bind. I read about it, including what Mary had to say regarding the weak spots she found that we could possibly exploit. Truth to be told, I don't feel that those are exactly weak spots, but I couldn't find a better way too."

"You are right." Mary spoke up with a serious look on her face. "Those are not exactly weak spots, but they are the only possible weak links in the M2 Bind that we can exploit. I know you dabbled a little in invention and technology from your work in Sunyshore's solar panels, Volkner. What are your own thoughts about the M2 Bind?"

"If even you cannot find a way to destroy it, I sure as hell couldn't do it." Volkner shrugged in a what-can-I-do manner before continuing to talk. "What I do have though, is a different approach we could possibly take and consider. I will leave it up to you and our tech team to decide if it is an approach that can be made possible."

"And that is?" Mary wasted no time in asking Volkner about his opinion on the matter, in which Volkner simply turned towards where the kitchen is in his house.

"Prime, I know you are hiding in the oven. Come out here."

A hollow cackle resounded across the house and a rotom suddenly manifested in front of us in a flash of plasma, crackling in sparks of electricity and eyeing each of us in turn. Volkner simply raised a lazy finger towards his rotom and pointed at it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, meet my rotom, Prime. He might be the key in destroying the annoying M2 Bind."

"I see." Shannon whispered as she took on a thinking pose and began to mumble to herself. "Rotoms are pokemon with a very unique body that is entirely composed of plasma. With that, they can infiltrate electronic devices to wreak havoc. If rotom were to enter a machine like the M2 Bind-"

"It might just be able to dismantle it from within." Mary completed the sentence excitedly. "That's it!"

"Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds." Volkner immediately dumped a cold pail of water on everyone's excitement. "You might not know this tidbit of information because rotoms are so rare, but what you see them doing most of the time, if you even managed to catch a glimpse of a rotom before today, are them infiltrating _simple_ electronic appliances."

"You mean they…"

"They _can_ infiltrate electronic appliances, yes, but they only usually do so when the appliances are not complex ones." Volkner patiently explained. "For a rotom to infiltrate and possess a complex machinery takes a lot of time to practice and skill to master. Most rotoms don't have that kind of patience or skill."

Volkner then directed our attention back to the blueprint of the M2 Bind on the screen.

"A machine as complex as the M2 Bind? It takes _a lot_ of time and effort for a rotom to be familiar enough with the machinery to even infiltrate and then take complete control of it. Luckily for us, Prime is more than qualified in terms of patience and skill, but that is where I hit a dead end. Skilled as he is, Prime cannot possibly successfully infiltrate and possess something like the M2 Bind on his very first try. There's also nothing for him to practice on because there's nothing of that sort to help him in practicing how to infiltrate a machine as complex and as similar as the M2 Bind."

"I will find a way to make it happen." Mary said resolutely. "Leave it to me."

"M-Me too!" Shannon spoke up. "I specialise in Pokemon Biology. Since the M2 Bind works by controlling the nervous system of the target pokemon, and rotom's ability to possess electronic appliances has a direct connection to the biological makeup, I-I can do something to help too."

"That will be great, considering that this pokemon is a clone of Mew as far as we know." Volkner said before releasing a tired sigh. "Fuck this shit. I'm too tired to deal with this nonsense. I'm supposed to be retired."

"Language. There are children here." Akamu chided with a disapproving frown, of which Volkner merely returned with a roll of his eyes, knowing that I am not exactly a child.

"It's fine." I quickly cut in. "Shall we continue with the discussion?"

"Mary and Shannon's job is mainly in the science and tech stuff, and this is all the tech stuff I have to discuss for today." Volkner admitted before turning to the two ladies. "What I'm going to discuss next is more on the beating up the bad guys part, which you guys can sit out on. There is already a tech support team who Lance has gathered and they are now in my precious garage-turned-lab doing their own thing. You two should meet them because they will be the ones who you two will work with in finding a way to destroy the M2 Bind. If you want, Prime can bring you there right now."

Mary shot Shannon a brief glance, who nodded her head in return. Seeing Shannon's response, Mary spoke up.

"We would like that."

"Prime, bring them to those old men." Volkner instructed his rotom, who gave its reply with a cackle which led to Volkner narrowing his eyes at it.

" _No pranking them_. I'm serious, you know what we will be going up against. Whatever they need your help in, you do your best to aid them, okay?"

The rotom visibly whined a little at the order given, but still proceeded to do as it was told. Mary and Shannon soon left Volkner's house through the front door with his rotom leading the way. Volkner then cleared his throat, catching our attention once more.

"Alright, so, ready for whatever revelations I am going to dump onto you guys?"

"Revelations?" I asked.

"Yeah, only found out about it last night. I only just informed Lance and Professor Oak early this morning about what I found out too." Volkner said and took a sip from his glass to quench his thirst. "The mysterious informant that came with the right information at the right time? I have a feeling I might have just pinpointed where he came from and who he's working for."

"If that's the case, then we need to know." Looker said in all seriousness the moment he heard Volkner's words. "Knowing the source of information is always an important part in winning a war."

"That's the one thing we can agree on." Volkner nodded before he began to elaborate. "So, first of all, there are a few points that I found to be suspicious the moment I learnt about it from Jas. Right when we are all at our most ignorant about this Rocket crisis, an unknown informant stepped up to warn us of this unseen threat. Not only that, everything we need to know to plan a counterattack, it was given at a point where we all have _just enough_ time to prepare. No more, no less."

"That means that the act of leaking this information to Lance is deliberate." Nova made the connection as soon as Volkner said that.

"Bingo." Volkner nodded. "It will be too naive of us to brush off this stroke of good luck as a generous act from a good samaritan, so I decided to dig further into the entire dump of information that the informant gave Lance. It was when sorting through it that I found another weird thing."

Volkner then held up two fingers.

"I classified the entire chunk of information into two broad categories. The dirt we have on Kain, and the dirt we have on Team Rocket. Guess whose dirt do we have more? Not only that, the difference is of a considerable margin."

"From your tone, it's Kain." Akamu replied.

"Exactly." Volkner nodded his head. "Isn't it weird? The informant is here to warn us of what Team Rocket is planning and yet he has much more information about Kain's dirty dealings than the Rockets. Something's obviously not right. So, I did a little digging on my part by accessing the Government's database."

"The only permission you had was the permission to access the Indigo _League's_ database." Looker immediately spoke up, an alarmed look on his face. "How did you get access to the _Government's_ database?"

"For me to know and for you to find out." Volkner dismissed Looker's question with a wave of his hand. "As I was saying-"

"Volkner." Akamu spoke up with a look of disbelief on his face just as we all caught on what Volkner really did. "You _cannot_ just **_hack_** into-"

"And I already did. What can you guys do about it?" Volkner challenged. "And you guys should be glad I did, because this was how I managed to piece out more information that the informant doesn't want us to know. I told you people, I'm a certified selfish asshole and troll. You guys will get mad at me for how I go about doing things. So do you guys want to hear what I have to say or not?"

"Just continue." Looker replied with a tired sigh as he used his knuckle to massage his temple.

"First of all, the fact that the informant had so much dirt on _Kain_ of all people is suspicious. I'm a very paranoid person myself, having to deal with criminals, gangsters, terrorists, Galactics, assassins and the likes ever since I became a Gym Leader. Kain's paranoia is at least ten times worse than mine. So that begs the question. How on earth did this informant get so much dirt on him? That's point number one."

On one of the screens, a single line of sentence appeared on the screen in bullet point. _How did the informant get so much dirt on Kain?_

"Moving on." Volkner continued to tell us what he found odd about the entire issue. "Lance said that the information was given to him through hard drives. The informant had somehow infiltrated his office in Indigo HQ and placed hard drives on his table, day by day, for almost an entire week. Lance told me that he even tried camping in his own office to catch the informant in the act and yet failed to do so. Another hard drive just popped up on his table like magic the moment he went for a toilet break. I myself had tried infiltrating Sinnoh HQ before and it wasn't easy, even for me. Can you guys now see how _ridiculous_ this entire fiasco sounds like? This is point number two."

Ignoring the part where Volkner admitted that he had infiltrated his own regional League's HQ, his point does make some sense. This is indeed a suspicious point in itself.

Another bullet point appeared below the first one. _How did the informant infiltrate Indigo HQ repeatedly without getting caught?_

"I initially thought that maybe Indigo is not as up to date with cybersecurity, which would explain how the informant got so much dirt on Kain, so I sent my porygon-z to see just how secure their cybersecurity is. Guess what? That's not the case. Indigo's cybersecurity is _solid_ , especially for the Indigo Government, and yet my porygon-z managed to find traces of a security breach. It was what my porygon-z exploited to compare the information the informant gave us and what is there in Indigo Government's database. We then found out that we actually have everything we need to know about Kain and his dealings, except for _one_ single file that the informant never gave us. This is where everything started to piece itself out."

On cue, one of the screens showed what is obviously a highly confidential file titled 'PROJECT ILLUSION'.

"Project Illusion. An illegal top secret project that right now, only Kain has the knowledge of its existence. Everyone else involved is already dead according to what is stated on the file." Volkner quickly gave us a rundown on what Project Illusion is about as he used a mouse to open the file and navigate through it. "In short, Project Illusion is all about kidnapping young children, brainwashing them with Hypnosis, and then mold them into Kain's perfect soldiers and spies that will listen and report to him and him only. 359 children were abducted in total."

There was an angry slam of fist against the table and we all turned to see who had done so. An angry Akamu had a look of fury on his face, fist clenched. The table itself now has cracks on its surface for that angry slam Akamu did.

Akamu had a very apologetic look on his face the moment he realised what he had done.

"Uhm, sorry about the table. I-"

"It's fine." Volkner waved it off lazily with a hand. "I can understand your anger, I had the same reaction when I first learnt of Project Illusion too. Don't worry about the table, I've been wanting to find an excuse to convince Jas to replace the table for a while now anyway. You just did me a favour."

"So Kain has his own personal army of spies." Looker muttered darkly as we all tried to wrap our heads around this change in development of events. "This just got a lot more complicated. For all we know he already knows what we and Indigo are trying to do. If they interfere, this just got a lot harder."

"358 of them are already dead, only one of them is alive. Look." Volkner cut in as he scrolled through the pages, each detailing the personal particulars of every single operative that are part of Project Illusion. The DECEASED typed in big red words and bolded are plastered over each and every one of their profiles.

"Scumbag." Nova muttered darkly as we briefly went through what we saw on screen.

"No disagreements there. Problem is, the beginning of this file stated that there are 359 operatives, each of them children that Kain had abducted. It's also stated that 358 of them are already dead. I only have 358 different profiles here, and all of them are marked as KIA. There is a missing page, the one belonging to one Operative 2046 and probably the sole survivor of Project Illusion."

"That operative's profile was purposely deleted on purpose." Looker stated his deduction with confidence. "Problem is, by who?"

"My porygon-z tried to see if he can salvage any remnants of the deleted page, but there is no progress on that matter. All we know is that the deletion is very recent, on the same day of the security breach in the Government's database. That means whoever stole the whole lot of information about Kain and his dirty dealings, deleted the page on Operative 2046, and then sent everything to Lance except for the file on Project Illusion, is probably the very same person. Motivations are important, because it helps us to predict what the other side is planning to do next. So what's the reason or motivation behind whatever the informant had done? Why go through all this trouble? Why did he or she not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and more specifically, Operative 2046? This is point number three."

A third bullet point appeared on the screen. _Why does the informant not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and Operative 2046?_

"Could it be that it is not because the operative did not want to give us that file on Project Illusion, but rather he or she cannot give us?" Nova reasoned as she provided an alternative explanation.

"It doesn't make sense if that were the case." Volkner disagreed with a shake of his head. "There are many more confidential files that are even more tightly guarded than Project Illusion that the informant had managed to get for us. The informant purposely did not give us the file on Project Illusion for a reason, which leads me to my next point."

Volkner sat up a little straighter before telling us his conjecture.

"What I think, is that whoever this informant is, is this Operative 2046. Our informant is actually an underground agent under Kain's employment. That is the only explanation I can think of that makes sense."

"Explain." Akamu said.

"I don't believe in coincidences." Volkner stated plainly before he pointed at the screen. "Take another look at the bullet points."

1\. _How did the informant get so much dirt on Kain?_

2\. _How did the informant infiltrate Indigo HQ repeatedly without getting caught?_

3\. _Why does the informant not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and Operative 2046?_

"If." Volkner spoke slower in order to help us follow his train of thoughts. "If this informant really is an underground agent of the Government all along, working and reporting only to Kain, then _everything_ will fit. He would know things about Kain that nobody else does, infiltrating the Indigo HQ will be easier than most because he or she would very likely have some sort of secret access to places nobody else has, and if this person is Operative 2046 of Project Illusion, the only missing profile in Project Illusion, then it would make sense that he or she has sort of unknown motivation to erase any records of their existence, even from the Indigo Government's database."

"It does make sense." Looker spoke up after we all fell into silence to ponder about this issue. "But if Kain had brainwashed his operatives with Hypnosis as stated in Project Illusion to ensure their absolute loyalty to him, why and how is this operative doing this?"

"That's what we don't know." Volkner said with a sigh. "Like I said, motivations are important. Things don't just fall into your lap without any reason. This informant has his own agenda to meet as well, that is for certain. This is no longer a two-way war between Indigo and Team Rocket. It's a three-way war with this informant controlling everything behind the scenes. He deliberately _chose_ to inform Indigo about Team Rocket's plans and Kain's deeds right at this very moment because he thinks that now is the right time. We don't even know _for sure_ if he or she really is this Operative 2046 or everything is simply a ploy to make us think this way."

"We need to keep an eye on Kain." Looker spoke up. "If everything that we now know is somehow his orchestration, then we might be heading right for a trap."

"One step ahead of you." Volkner snorted. "Already told Lance this morning what I told you guys. He's onto it, so let's not worry about that. Now that we got the Kain part done, let's move onto Team Rocket. You guys ready for round two?"

And thus round two began.

* * *

… Or that _was_ the plan.

Round two ended up getting postponed because it was near lunchtime by the time round one ended and we are indeed getting a little hungry. Volkner proposed that we simply take a break and prepare some simple lunch for everyone who is in the West Forest, including the tech team which I have not seen yet but according to Volkner, hard at work in his garage which had been converted into a lab for the use of the tech team.

Volkner and I had disappeared to have a private conversation with each other the moment we had the chance in pretence of getting the ingredients we needed to cook our lunch.

"I'm curious, why do you insist that we prepare our own lunch instead of ordering takeout or something? I thought we were in a rush for time."

"Yes, we _are_ in a rush for time." Volkner agreed. "But team building is indeed important too. We can afford to spare an hour or two to get to know each other better, especially when we are supposed to work as a team, not just as a group. What else is a better form of icebreaking than to cook a meal or two together?"

"Everybody that I met who knew you said that you are not a team player. What changed?"

"What changed is that I _chose_ to be a team player now." Volkner replied with a roll of his eyes. "There's really no other choice if we are going up against Mewtwo. We both know what kind of monster that pokemon can be."

"You know, I'm curious. Just who on earth managed to persuade you to help this time?"

"Take a guess."

"I'm too lazy to. Just say it."

"Fine, spoilsport." Volkner said with a dramatic sigh. "It's Lance."

"Lance? The _Indigo Champion?!_ "

"That one. Not gonna lie, I was initially pissed when he came over."

"You seemed to be permanently pissed at everything and everyone anyway."

"You should see that attitude of his when he came over." Volkner deadpanned. "It's like he expects me to help him for nothing in return simply because _the Indigo Champion is here personally so you have to help, because he is the **Indigo Champion**. _That was the vibe he gave off. So what if you are the Indigo Champion? Do I look like I give a shit about rank and titles? It sure didn't seem like he was here _asking_ for my help, he was here _demanding_ for my help. Of course I was pissed, there's a big difference between the two. And- what are you doing?"

"Cooling you down." I replied sarcastically as I used my hand to do a fanning motion in his direction. "Someone's getting a little heated."

"Oh, short stack is a smartmouth now, is she?"

"At least I'm not an ass like you." I retorted. "Anyway, what happened next?"

"I reminded Lance about the possible political repercussions that might happen because of my status as a Sinnohan, he said Cynthia agreed to the arrangement so there's no problem. I got even more pissed off the moment I heard that. Like, _dude_ , did you even _ask **me**_ for my own opinion before coming over? If you are asking for **_my_** help, shouldn't you ask for **_my_** opinion instead of Cynthia's? I never agreed to help, right? I am no longer under the control of the Sinnoh League, Cynthia saying yes doesn't mean jack shit to me anymore. Why was he acting like me helping him is a fact set in stone simply because Cynthia said yes? If there's _one_ thing that I _absolutely **hate**_ , it's _Cynthia_ ordering _me_ around. Both of us never got along even if we greatly respect each other as trainers. Any thoughts of wanting to help Lance disappeared the moment I heard that coming out from his mouth."

"Lance couldn't have known about your relationship with Cynthia, could he?"

"He _does_." Volkner disagreed with a stare. "That's the thing that made me snap at him. He knew I absolutely hate to do anything Cynthia ordered me to do and he still said it anyway, especially when I'm now not her subordinate."

"You know, sometimes I still don't understand why you are so against helping Indigo. You were Sinnoh's strongest Gym Leader." I argued. "What did Spiderman's uncle say again? With great pow-"

" _Don't_ fucking complete that stupid sentence." Volkner warned. "That's the quote I _hate_ the most. At best, that quote is just something to make you feel better about yourself for something you think you did for the greater good. At worst, it is an excuse to exploit others and guilt trip them to help you with your shitty problems simply because they are too capable and you are too useless to clean up your own mess."

"Why do you think this way?"

"You have to understand, Vel, I wasn't like a selfish asshole like I am now when I first started out." Volkner said with a tired sigh. "Yes, people with great power do have a responsibility to use it properly, that I agree. Just look at Kain now, he didn't use his powers responsibly and look at the mess that happened. But if you start using that quote as an excuse to squeeze every bit of usefulness out of me to solve every single problem in the world, like what the Sinnoh League did to me, then we are going to have problems. No matter how powerful and capable someone can be, they are _not obliged_ to help you in every single matter. The same goes for me, I'm only human. I have my limits. There are things that I _cannot_ do so it's dangerous to be over reliant on me to solve every single issue. One day I will hit my limits and fail too because I'm human like everybody else."

Volkner took a brief pause before continuing.

"There's always a limit to how much a person can give to another person or to the world before they break, Vel. I was so very close to reaching my breaking point during my two years of Galactic hunting. You say with great power comes great responsibility? I daresay I used my powers very responsibly already and not abuse it when I could have. I had many chances to do so. I daresay I did my damn best in fulfilling my duties and responsibilities as a Pillar even if I hated the job that I never asked for. I will dare anyone to name another Pillar that has gone far beyond the call of duty to do what I did and sacrificed what I have sacrificed in protecting their region. The number of such Pillars that I can think of right now whose contributions and sacrifices surpassed mine numbered to less than ten in the world's history."

Volkner took a brief pause before continuing.

"Point is, I had done my _best_ , Vel. Yes, I know my work isn't perfect, but what _more_ do you want me to sacrifice? Yes, I know I am strong even for the standards of what you would expect from a Pillar, but that is no reason for me to be at everyone's beck and call to be their wonder cure for _everything_. It's plain unfair to me. And let's be logical here. When the world starts to rely on a select few to solve each and every of their problems, that's when everything goes to shit. It's basic common sense that such an arrangement can never last but the supposedly smartest people who govern this world just can't seem to understand this simple logic."

Volkner carried on with explaining the reason behind his disagreement with my point of view.

"Can you imagine if back in those days, what would happen if Sinnoh become over reliant on me and if one day I suddenly got myself killed? What then? Who else can take over my job to cleanse the region of the lowlives infesting Sinnoh? Why else do you think I placed so much time and effort in grooming a successor? It's not just because I can retire quickly, it's also because if anything happens to me, I can die knowing that I had taught someone the needed skills to finish what I started. I cannot allow my death, disappearance, or any sort of disablement to leave a vacuum that cannot be filled should anything happen to me. Sinnoh's crime problems were very serious back then, I needed something to produce immediate results. For crime rates to stop skyrocketing I need the underworld to be afraid of me, I need to be a presence that they all fear. I need to force myself to be so powerful that I am incapable of falling and unable to be defeated, just like an undying sun, even if doing so means offending the entirety of Sinnoh's underworld and putting me at the very top of their shitlist. Having assassination attempts on my life was so common that I got numb to it, because I was too good at my job. To be good at my job, I sacrificed my innocence and moral compass and became a murderer. I lost count on the number of villains that I had killed because I didn't have any other choice, because these people are too dangerous to let live. Yes, they are villains, but a life is a life and what they did doesn't mean that their life was any less sacred. And even after I've done the deed I still have to force myself to put on a smile on my face to reassure the people that the threat has been neutralised and that they can continue to go on with their daily lives. You want to _talk_ to me about _power_ and _responsibility?_ _That_ was the power I wield and the responsibility I took on as Sunyshore's Gym Leader among many others that I cannot tell you due to national secrets."

Ignoring the awkward silence, Volkner continued to tell me his side of the story.

"If I cannot do all of what I just mentioned as a Gym Leader, Sinnoh is doomed, all because I wasn't ready or capable to take up the responsibilities that come with the title of a Gym Leader that I was saddled with against my will. This was why I spent so much time and effort in grooming Riley to be my successor, because he has what it takes to do what I do and has the potential to be far stronger, greater, and even better than what I will ever be, be it as a trainer, Gym Leader, and also as a person. If anyone can surpass me, it's him, that is what I believe. That is why he is my successor and nobody else."

Volkner then gave me a look of warning.

"So _don't_ talk to me about power and responsibility. I know better than anyone what those words really mean. If I truly wanted to spite the Sinnoh League and be truly irresponsible, I could simply do the bare minimum by entertaining challengers who challenged me for my badge and stop there. I could have just exposed their dirty deeds for the whole world to see like how the informant did to Kain. I wouldn't bother to rebuild Sunyshore and clear the city of all the bad guys. I wouldn't bother trying to help make sure that the trainer school idea can be implemented in Sinnoh despite my already crazy schedule. I can show the world how to take _slacking around_ to the next level if I really wanted to. If I really hated Sinnoh for what they did to me, I could easily become their worst criminal to ever grace the world with the power I wield simply to spite whoever had done me wrong. Better still, join forces with people like Cyrus or Giovanni. We can easily take over the world together, especially with my foreknowledge. I know better than anyone that absolute power corrupts because I've not only seen it happen, what I hold in my hands even right now _is_ absolute power. If I'm so powerful that it will be so hard to bring me to justice for any wrongs I did, it's honestly a lot easier for me to be a criminal than a good guy. I would really like to see who on earth can stop me if that were the case. Still, did I do any of that despite the unfair treatment I received? I didn't, right? I'm not conceited enough to claim that I experienced the worst treatment the world has to offer because I know that somewhere out there, there will be some poor chap that had it worse than I did. But I still ended up being one of those Pillars who had contributed the most to Sinnoh throughout her long history, didn't I? If I truly didn't understand the weight of the responsibility placed on me and what having absolute power means, could I really have endured everything and did what I did?"

I remained silent, not knowing how to reply. Volkner simply gave another of his trademarked sighs and continued.

"I told you I was practically a slave to the League but I never did tell you _how_ I became a slave, did I? I was **_blackmailed_**. The few people who I care about in this world, the Sinnoh League _threatened_ their well-being in order to force me to take up the position. I had no choice but to be a Gym Leader to protect them. Just please don't tell this to anyone else, even if it's Jas or Flint. I kept them in the dark about this for a reason."

"Threatened?!"

"That's not all. What made me really angry was that it ended up being a big bluff, all because I wasn't sure if the Sinnoh League could really carry out their threats. I was just like you back then, Vel, ignorant about everything that doesn't interest me. Politics, Thirteen Pillars, blah blah blah, I had close to zero knowledge of what they do or mean. The only thing that mattered to me back then was taking care of my pokemon and to be the strongest trainer, because that was my passion and dream. Because of that, I was ignorant about the world and how it works. It was because of my ignorance that I paid the price in the form of slaving away seven years of my life to the Sinnoh League."

Seven years of freedom. It's really a big price to pay.

" _Seven years_ , Vel. Can you now see why I am so unwilling to tangle myself with League affairs now? Especially in a foreign region? Another slip-up on my part can easily lead me to signing another seven years of my life away or even more. I don't want that to happen again, and I made damn sure that it will **_never_** happen again when I resigned. You think I'm a selfish asshole? I know I am one, but I didn't ask to be one. I forced myself to be one because being a selfish asshole was the only way I know how to protect myself from people who kept coming to me over and over again to help me solve their problems. When I was at your age helping others was second nature to me. Anybody who asked for my help, I gave them. When I was a boy with only five badges I was already famous among the law enforcement for busting crimes that even the police themselves cannot solve, all because like you are now, I had once genuinely believed that with great power comes great responsibility. Why else do you think the Sinnoh League so quickly decided to appoint me as the 42nd Gym Leader of Sunyshore the moment Flint put my name forward, especially when I had only just returned to Sinnoh from my four year world tour prior to that no less? It's because I have proven myself to be suited for the job since a long time ago."

Volkner then patted me on the head, although this time I didn't slap his annoying hand away like always because he really looked like he was being genuinely worried about me.

"Seeing you right now reminds me a little of what I used to be when I was around your age. At least you have your family's backing to protect you should you find yourself in a sticky situation, so your situation is a lot better than mine. I didn't have such a luxury because I was simply another no-name orphan until I made a name for myself after I became Gym Leader and created my own safety net. In any case, be very careful when treading around any affairs that are related to any League and especially with the PWL. Don't end up signing your life away like I did. Once you fall into that trap, it's very hard to get out of there. Take it from someone who had gone through it before."

Volkner then walked on ahead. Upon realising that I am still rooted to the spot, he gave me a lazy smile and gestured for me to come along with a slight tilt of his head.

"Come on, enough of the serious talk and my angsty sob story. That part of my life is already over anyway. I just want you to be absolutely clear what you are getting yourself into before you commit further for the interpol's cause, because that's the only piece of advice I can impart to you before we go our separate ways. Come, let me show you the little plantation that Jas and I are so proud of. We grow some of our own food, you know that?"

True to his words, Volkner led me to a little plantation where he and Jasmine grew their own food.

"Didn't take you to be a gardener." I commented as Volkner and I picked out the garlics and onions from his little plantation not far from his house. Like Volkner said, we will be preparing our own lunch. Nova and Akamu are in the kitchen preparing the other ingredients and preparing their region's unique delicacy for us to taste. Volkner and I used this time to go out to his so-called plantation to pick up the rest that we all need. It is also a good excuse to catch up with each other about what we both have done so far and to talk about things that we remembered from our previous lives.

"It's a good hobby to have." Volkner said with a shrug as he tossed whatever he picked out into a small basket we brought along. "So, thoughts on whatever we discussed about Kain and the shady as hell informant just now?"

"I think your points are valid. It's clear that everybody agreed that what you picked out is something to look out for." I replied as I dusted some of the soil off my hands. Volkner's raichu stood close to us and I allowed it to use its nose to sniff my scent when it nuzzled a little closer to my leg, probably to familiarise itself with my scent and presence. We will be working alongside each other for the foreseeable future, so having ourselves and our pokemon familiarise with each other will be necessary.

"Come to think about it, this is probably the first time you met Franky." Volkner jabbed a thumb at the massive electivire standing behind him, who waved an energetic hello at me the moment its trainer introduced it to me. "My starter and strongest pokemon, that's him. Don't worry about his scary looks, he's very friendly."

I used this time to visually study the fine specimen of an electivire right before my eyes. The only other electivire that I had seen in person before is Vance's, and even then it's obvious at a glance that even Vance's had nothing on Volkner's.

"Uhm, this is Rena." I gestured to Rena, who is beside me as always, before gesturing to Kel, who is lying beneath the shade of a nearby tree and watching us silently. "That's Kel. You already met Fuzzy. These three are usually the ones who accompany me everywhere other than my ghosts. Sometimes you might see Archer too if the space is big enough to accommodate him and if I let him out of his pokeball. He's a scizor."

"Oh, bug types? Do me a favour and try not to let them roam near Jas. She's a little afraid of bugs."

"Huh." I blurted, a little amused that even a Gym Leader has the common phobia of bugs. "Not something I expected from someone of her status, no offense."

"None taken." Volkner waved it off. "To be fair, she did try to get over it. She has a forretress on her team but that's because that species honestly doesn't look much like a bug at all. She had really wanted a scizor on her team but everytime she got near a scyther or the likes she just screamed and ran away in fear. We gave up trying to get her a scyther or a scizor after a while."

"So Bug Specialists are her nemesis?"

"She's fine if bugs keep their distances from her, not that fine if they got up close to her. Luckily my vikavolt is an understanding little bug and didn't take her phobia of bugs personally. Would have been awkward otherwise."

Volkner stood up and dusted his hands.

"C'mon, short stack, let's go. We already got what we need."

"For the _last_ time you Hokage wannabe, call me by that damn name _one more time_ -"

 _"Hokage wannabe?"_

Both Volkner and I clammed our mouths shut when we heard that the voice that clearly belonged to another person. We both turned our heads, spotting a shocked Akamu and Nova with a decidueye beside them. Volkner and I are also both equally shocked at how the two of them just appeared behind us unannounced.

"What are you talking about?" Volkner feigned ignorance and I quickly caught on. "And weren't you two in the kitchen marinating the meat or something?"

Nova and Akamu both shared a look with each other before turning to face us. Akamu broke the silence.

"Does the name Naruto mean anything to either of you?"

Both Volkner and I blinked, then turned to each other, then turned back to face Akamu and Nova.

No damn way.

 _This can't be real._

* * *

 **Character and pokemon list:**

 **Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference**

 **Pokemon on hand:**

 **1) Rapidash (Flamel), male**

 **2) Swampert (Bigblue), male**

 **3) Banette (Dolly), female**

 **4) Flygon (Snap), male**

 **5) Absol (Kelsa), female**

 **6) Charizard (Toothless), male**

 **7) Cradily (Lily), female**

 **8) Espeon (Rena), female**

 **9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male**

 **10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male**

 **11) Cleffa (Joy), female**

 **12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female**

 **13) Pangoro (Hulk), male**

 **14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless**

 **15) Scizor (Archer), male**

 **16) Lapras (Chill), female**

 **17) Gengar (Wacky), male**

 **18) Dusknoir**


End file.
